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Chapter Text

"Harry."

"Harry?"

"Harry!" Ron yells, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Somethings wrong." He replies, not taking his eyes off of the Slytherin table where Draco was sitting, half listening to Blaise and pushing his breakfast around on his plate. He looks miserable Harry thinks, nothing like his usual pompous self.

Next to him Ron groans and slams his head onto the table. "Mate, this is getting ridiculous. All you do is watch Malfoy. Talk about Malfoy. Watch Malfoy's dot move around on the Marauders Map. Next thing you know you'll be following him around under your invisibility cloak."

Harry tried to look innocent but he just couldn't meet Ron's eyes when he replied and he was sure that he was blushing. "Why on earth would I do that?" He mumbled. And he really wouldn't. Except for that one time when he did. And the second time. But it was only twice! And he was certain that he had been up to something. But all Harry had managed to see was Malfoy walking aimlessly about the castle in the middle of the night.

Ron was silent for what felt like a lifetime.

"You…omg, you are following him! Look-" Ron said, holding up his hand to stop Harry from interrupting, "I know you think that he's up to something, and, you know what? He probably is, he's a right little shit. But Harry, this is starting to get a bit creepy, even for you." Ron was silent and watching Harry speculatively for a while as he was apparently trying to find the words for what he wanted to say next.

"Harry, I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me okay?" He said seriously.

Harry sighed, he did not like the sound of that. “Yeah, sure, what is it?"

Ron wasted no time. "Are you in love with him?"

Harry spluttered, dribbling his mouthful of tea down his front, which was conveniently the same moment that Malfoy chose to look over at the Gryffindor table, a smirk on his face at the sight of Harry dribbling tea out of his mouth. "What?! No! Just….no! Why would you even think that?……That's…..No!"

Just then Hermione sat down next to Ron and started scooping eggs onto her plate while telling them all about her Ancient Runes research project. When she was done she noticed the silence and eyed Ron and Harry suspiciously. "What were you two talking about?"

"Harry's crush on the Ferret." Ron supplied, shoving bacon into his mouth.

“Oh, Harry! I’m so happy that you’re finally able to admit it.” Hermione was beaming at him.

"Excuse me? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I do not have a crush on Malfoy!" He said a little too loudly and probably a little too defensively. It wasn't strictly true at all if he was being honest though. Which he wasn't. He looked around to make sure that no one had heard his little outburst.

He's not sure when it started, maybe at the start of the school year. When they all came back for Seventh year, he noticed that Malfoy looked a bit different. He had filled out a bit, he was less scrawny and more….muscular. His shoulders were broader, he was still pointy but in a more attractive way than before. Honestly, he was beautiful. He’d really grown into himself and he was now also an inch or so taller than Harry was. And his arse, oh Merlin, his arse, it was mesmerising. But the worst thing, oh the worst thing, was the hair. He had grown it out long enough that he could tie it back and sometimes little wisps of hair would fall out of the tie at the nape of his neck and fall over his face.

But despite all of his attractive qualities, Harry had been (discreetly) watching him since the start of the year, certain that he had been up to something, and he noticed that he, without a doubt, was still a prat. For which Harry was very grateful for because it meant that it was easier for him to try and ignore the attraction. It wasn't that he had a problem with being attracted to boys, he had long since accepted that he swung that way and it was much more acceptable in the Wizarding world than it was in the Muggle world. It was just the fact that it was Malfoy. Why did it have to be Malfoy of all people?

“Harry,” Harry turned to face Hermione who was still looking at him. "You know you can always talk to me and Ron right? About anything. We'll always be here for you. Always. Right, Ron?" She prompted, nudging Ron with her elbow.

"Oh, yeah, right. Always here mate." He replied, slapping Harry on the back and giving him what was probably meant to be an encouraging smile through a mouthful of bacon.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Honestly Ron,” she scolded disapprovingly but Harry could see the fond smile threatening to break through on her face. Ron and Hermione had been pining over each other for years now and he was relieved when they had finally got their shit together and started dating over the Summer. In truth though, he was a bit jealous of them, he wished that he could have what they had with someone and he was also scared that he wouldn't live long enough to have the opportunity.

"Errr, yeah. I know. I just don't have anything to talk about. Honestly." He added at the knowing look that Hermione was giving him. It's not that he didn't want to tell them that he fancied blokes. He knew that they would be accepting of it and they had probably already figured it out. Well, Hermione has probably already figured it out and informed Ron. He just wasn't ready.

"Well, we'd better get going. We can't be late for Potions. I don't want to give Professor Snape another reason to take more points from Gryffindor." Harry knew exactly what she was referring to. The incident a couple of weeks ago at the beginning of March when he had sassed Snape and lost Gryffindor 100 points in one fell swoop. Snape was still on the warpath about it.

"Yay, Potions first thing on a Monday morning, I can't wait." Hermione rolled her eyes at him as he got up from the table and slung his bag over his shoulder and followed them both out of the Great Hall, sneaking a glance over at the Slytherin table on his way out. Malfoy had already left.

*****

"Today, we will be brewing Amortentia. Or attempting to at least, for I know that you are all basically useless." Snape droned, looking directly at Harry. "Who can tell me what Amortentia is?"

As per usual, Hermione's hand shot into the air and, as per usual, Snape ignored her existence. Harry glared at him.

"No one? Well, I’m hardly surprised. Amortentia is the worlds most powerful love potion….” Harry tuned out the rest of whatever Snape was saying and looked over to where Malfoy was sitting at the back of the classroom next to Pansy Parkinson.

Pansy was whispering something that was apparently funny into his ear but he seemed wholly uninterested. Just sitting there, head resting in his hand, doodling in his notebook and occasionally offering her a non-committal response. All of a sudden, as if feeling eyes upon him, Malfoy looked up and looked at Harry. He seemed startled for a brief second before his face slipped into the usual glare that he seems to save especially for Harry.

"Potter!" Hermione kicked him under the table and he looked up to see Snape glaring at him.

"Yes, Sir?"

"I said, you're partnered with Mister Malfoy for this lesson. Move your things to his desk. Now!" He snapped when Harry continued to sit there, gaping uselessly. He slowly packed up his things and made his way over to the now vacant seat next to the Slytherin, while the whole class seemed to be watching him.

"Well, well, well, Potter, what a pleasure this is to be blessed with the presence of our favourite Saviour. Is it not a pleasure, Draco?" Smirked Zabini turning a knowing eye to Draco.

"Fuck off Blaise," he said under his breath, staring resolutely at his textbook, still doodling.

"Er, well, I guess it is…..a pleasure, Zabini" Harry replied uncertainly, he had no idea what was going on here.

"Oh please, call me Blaise," he said holding out his hand for Harry to shake. "We should really get comfortable with each other.” Harry reached out and shook his hand.

"Blaise, I said Fuck. Off." Draco snarled, a pink tinge rising on his cheeks.

"Touchy, touchy. Don't worry Potter, I'm sure you'll get used to it." He added before turning around to his own desk where he was partnered with Neville.

Harry looked between Draco and Blaise, still not really sure what was going on before he dropped his bag to the floor and slumped into his seat. "Umm, was Blaise just flirting with me?"

Draco glared at him. "Don't flatter yourself, Potter." He spat out, though it was lacking his usual venom. He just sounded tired.

Okay then.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he looked up at Draco, "So, um, what do you want me to do then? For the potion.”

Draco busied himself with setting up the cauldron and without looking at Harry replied, "Go and get the ingredients from the storeroom and then you can just sit there, looking pretty and not touch anything while I make the potion. I'm not going to fail this just because you're shite at potions."

For a moment Harry wanted to be offended but then he turned to Draco with a teasing smirk, "You think I look pretty?” Maybe this lesson wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Draco seemed to be blushing even more now, if it was actually blushing. He looked beautiful. Harry wondered if he blushed like that when he….no. He turned away quickly, silently scolding himself for where his thoughts were going and trying to think of something else before the situation in his pants got any worse. Snape in lingerie. Yes, that should do it. Snape in lingerie.

Draco looked stunned for a minute before he gathered himself. "That's not what I said".

"Oh, but that's exactly what you said, isn't Draco?" Blaise had turned around again and was grinning at them both.

"Blaise, I will end you," Draco said through gritted teeth. "How about you turn around and focus on your own potion, seeing as your partnered with Longbottom here I wouldn't suggest taking your eyes off of him for very long, there's no telling what he'll do to the potion." He looked at Neville with a sneer as he said this.

"Hey!" Neville replied indignantly "I mean, I know I'm not the best at Potions but I do try."

"Obviously not hard enough, Longbottom, you're a disaster, it's a wonder they let you into this class at all" Draco said scathingly.

Still a prat, Harry thought. "You know Malfoy, I know that having a stick permanently shoved up your arse is practically a Malfoy tradition and all, but have you ever thought of having it magically removed?" Harry was pretty pleased with himself when he heard Blaise let out a snort of laughter.

"You know Harry, I have it on pretty good authority that there's something else he would rather have sho-"

Harry never did get to hear the end of that sentence because at that moment Malfoy shot Blaise with a silencing spell. Blaise broke down in silent laughter and fell off his chair causing Snape to take five points from Slytherin. Bitterly, Harry thought if that had been him, Snape would have delighted in taking fifty points from Gryffindor.

Malfoy glared at Blaise and then turned his glare on Harry, "Just go and fetch the ingredients, Potter" He ordered imperiously, spitting out the last word. But his words were a bit at odds with the blush that was still furiously spreading across his aristocratic cheekbones.

Harry thought about arguing but decided it wasn't worth it. Especially as Snape was walking past, probably looking for an opportunity to take more points from Gryffindor. He got up and walked towards the store cupboard to get the ingredients they would need for the potion. Ron was already in there.

"So, how is it being partnered with the Ferret?" He inquired while rummaging through the shelves looking for the rest of his ingredients.

"He's a prat. As per usual" he said, for lack of anything better to say while he started looking for his own ingredients.

"Are-" Ron started before Snape appeared.

"Potter, Weasley, this isn't social hour in the Gryffindor Common Room. Ten points from each of you. Back to your seats.” They both exited the storeroom after Snape and went their separate ways back to their seats.

When Harry got back to their desk Malfoy had finished setting up their cauldron. He eyed Harry coldly before grabbing the ingredients and making a start on their potion. Harry tried to make an effort to help but every time he tried to touch something or reached over to stir their potion Malfoy batted his hands away so after a while he just gave up and let him get on with it.

They had been brewing for nearly an hour when Malfoy leant over Harry to grab some more ingredients. At the same time, Harry had taken a breath in. He had never been so close to Malfoy before and he smelled, well, he smelled good. Like vanilla and…something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He breathed in again, savouring the smell and then mentally slapped himself when he realised what he was doing. He hoped that Malfoy hadn't noticed. If he did then he didn't say anything.

By the time their potion was done Harry was nearly asleep. A common occurrence in potions as the air was so stifling and warm. He jerked to attention when he heard Snape's voice.

"You should all be done with your potions by now. You will each place a flask of your Amortentia on my desk for grading, remember to label it with both of your names otherwise you will not be graded. Although for some of you, that may make no difference anyway." He looked pointedly at Seamus who's cauldron had exploded halfway through the lesson. "You will all take note of what it smells like to you and I want 6 inches on it’s composition by the beginning of next lesson. Class dismissed."

"No guesses as to what it smells like to you. The Weaslette I'll bet." Malfoy mumbled bitterly as he started to clean up their station.

"What? Why would it smell like Ginny? And don't call her ‘Weaslette' that's not her name." Harry wasn't in the mood for any more of Malfoy's shit today. "Besides, I can't even smell the potion, the whole bloody room smells like you so maybe you should wear a little less cologne, yeah?"

When Malfoy didn't say anything, he looked up only to see Malfoy sitting in his chair with his mouth hanging open and Blaise in front of him trying to stifle a laugh but failing miserably.

"What the bloody hell is so funny?" He snapped. He was tired and sweaty from sitting in a stifling room for so long and he was starting to get irritable.

Malfoy seemed to gather himself and hastily started throwing his stuff into his satchel, shaking his head avoiding all eye contact with Harry. It was Blaise who answered him in the end. "Potter, you do know what Amortentia is right?"

"Well yeah, it's a love potion." Harry wasn't sure where this was going.

"Yes….and…?" He was waiting eagerly for Harry to answer.

Harry thought for a moment. "Well, I wasn't really listening when Snape was talking about it, I kind of zoned out."

Blaise gave up trying to hold in his laughter at that and burst into hysterics. Draco glared at him. "Oh, this is too good. Draco, do you want to tell him or should I?"

"Leave it alone Blaise." He was resolutely not looking in Harry’s direction as he finished packing up his things.

"Aw, Drakey, don't be like that." Blaise cooed innocently "Do you want to tell us what yours smells like?" He said raising an eyebrow. "I bet I can guess."

"No, I don't think I will. And if you ever call me that again, so help me Merlin, I will hex your bollocks off," Malfoy growled before picking up his bag and disappearing from the classroom.

Before he could even open his mouth to start questioning Blaise, Ron and Hermione walked past and dragged him out of the classroom. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened.

Chapter Text

It had been almost a week since the Amortentia lesson and in that time Hermione had helpfully filled him in on what he had missed from Snape’s lecture. So now he knew that the potion smells of what attracts you the most. And he was mortified. He kept replaying that last conversation with Malfoy and Blaise through is head over and over, trying to convince himself that it wasn't as bad as he thought it was. But he couldn't, because it really was that bad. And to make it even worse, for the rest of the week, Malfoy seemed to be going out of his way to avoid him and Blaise kept giving him knowing smirks.

Being as it was a Sunday afternoon and he didn’t much feel like doing anymore homework, much to Hermione’s annoyance, he was now just sitting in the common room watching Malfoy's dot move around on the Marauders Map. It looked as if he was pacing back and forth in his dormitory. He seems to do a lot of that. Except for when he was still which Harry assumed meant he must be laying in bed, which Harry definitely did not think about. He definitely did not think about him sprawled naked on Slytherin green silk sheets. He definitely didn't think about him stretching out his hand and inviting Harry into his bed. He definitely didn't think about crawling on top of him and pressing their naked bodies together. And he definitely didn't wank to thoughts of it late at night with the curtains drawn around his four-poster bed. No, he definitely did not.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he jumped when Ginny unexpectedly slumped down onto the sofa next to him with a huff. He hastily covered the situation in his pants with the map and he hoped to Merlin that he wasn't blushing.

"Hiya, Harry." She leaned over and looked over his shoulder at the map. "Oh, stalking Malfoy again, are you? What's he up to now, brushing his hair perhaps?”

"What? I'm not…I'm not stalking him!" Harry was so sick of having this conversation with his friends. "I just think that he's up to something." He mumbled as an afterthought. In truth, it had started out that way, Harry thought that Malfoy was up to something but since they all came back from the Christmas holiday it had turned more into something like concern. He had noticed that Malfoy always seemed so withdrawn and sullen. Always looking down, hardly eating, and not interacting with his fellow housemates like he used to. Harry was pretty sure that he had been up to something but now he was mostly just worried about him. Not that he wanted to admit that. Honestly, there was a lot that Harry didn't want to admit to right now.

"Uh huh. Okay, right. I believe you." She said unconvincingly. Harry looked up from the map and glared at her. She just laughed and bought her feet up under her on the couch, ”Oh come on Harry, Hermione told me what your Amortentia smells like and I'm not stupid, I see the way that you look at him. It's the same way that Ron’s been looking at Hermione since first year. I'm actually pretty sure that everyone can see the way you look at him. Except for him. Because he's just as stupid as you are apparently." she said, obviously trying not to laugh any more.

Harry groaned. "Are you done?" Ginny was a great friend, just like a sister, but sometimes he really hated her.

"For now,” she shot him a smug smile. "Anyway" she continued, "I just came to tell you that Dumbledore wants to see you in his office immediately."

"Oh, okay, I'll go right away. Thanks, Gin." Thankfully the situation in his pants had settled and he got up to leave. Ginny still gave him a knowing look though. When he got to the portrait hole Ginny called his name before he could get through it and he turned back to look at her.

"If you ever want to talk about anything, Harry, I'm always here, you know that right? I'll never judge you" she smiled sincerely.

Harry groaned again, "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Because you're family and we care about you.” She was leaning over the back of the couch with her head resting on her arms.

He smiled at her before turning around and walking out of the portrait, "See you later, Gin."

*****

Harry had been meeting with Professor Dumbledore all year and planning what to do about Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes. They were starting to make a lot of progress, they now knew what the rest of them were and they had some leads on where they were being kept, yet Harry had the distinct feeling that Dumbledore wasn't telling him something still.

That wasn't what had kept him up last night though. Dumbledore had disclosed to him that Draco had taken the Dark Mark sometime over last Summer. Harry wasn't entirely sure why Dumbledore felt the need to tell him this though.

All night he lay in bed trying to think of why Draco would do such a thing. Yes, he's a still a massive prat but he's changed. Not really in an obvious way but if you look closely, which he definitely does, then you can see it. He's quieter now, he doesn't spend all his time spouting off about blood purity or calling people Mudbloods, he hasn’t heard him mention his Father in months, and just last week he saw him helping up a first-year Ravenclaw boy who had been hit with a tripping jinx and dropped the contents of his satchel all over the floor. Malfoy was a mystery. He just couldn't figure him out.

*****

He'd managed to drift off to sleep in the early hours of the morning and had gotten maybe a couple of hours sleep before waking up to Ron throwing what appeared to be a shoe at his head.

"Mmmphf! Wassat for?" He moaned looking blearily in the direction he was pretty sure the shoe came from. He felt around for his glasses, shoved them on his face and sat up awkwardly, grimacing at the sunlight that was streaming through the tower window.

"Mate! Hurry up, we're gonna be late for breakfast, ‘Mione's probably already down there waiting for us and I don't fancy getting on her bad side this early on a Monday morning. I'll wait for you down in the common room." He didn’t even wait for an answer before he left the dormitory, closing the door behind him.

Harry groaned, he was so tempted to just go back to sleep but he knew he couldn’t be late for class so he stumbled out of bed and started fishing around his trunk for his clothes and toiletries before making his way to the bathroom. He really must have slept in because the bathroom was deserted. He turned on the water in the shower and waited for it to warm up before stepping under the steady stream. He braced his hands against the wall and looked down at the tiled floor as the hot water sluiced over him.

He thought back to the dream that Ron had so rudely awaken him from. It was a mess of blonde hair, grey eyes, and long, pale, muscular limbs. He felt himself growing hard just thinking about it. He had been having some variation of that dream almost every night lately and frequently awoke with sticky sheets. But he had so far resisted acting on it. He tried to resist the urge to touch himself. Merlin, this was Malfoy he was thinking about. He couldn't, no matter how fit the bastard was.

He lasted a few more minutes. Sod it, he thought, grabbing hold of his aching prick. He let out the breath he didn't realise he'd been holding in relief. Merlin, it felt good. He started stroking himself, his hand and his cock slick with soap and moving easily. He sped up and started bucking into his fist before reaching around behind himself and circling his rim. He inserted a finger and moaned, thankful that the bathroom was otherwise deserted. What he wouldn't give to be able to feel Malfoy doing this to him instead.

He thought about Malfoy going down on him, wrapping his pink lips around his swollen cock while grey eyes looked up at him. He imagined his questing fingers cupping his balls and then sliding back and stroking his rim before pushing in a single slicked up finger. It was this thought that had Harry coming just a few moments later. He cleaned up the evidence of his activities and stepped out of the shower, wrapping his towel around his waist.

He was definitely late for breakfast now. He cast a hurried drying charm over himself before brushing his teeth and tying his hair up in a messy bun. He really needed to get it cut he thought to himself. He hurried downstairs to the common room where Ron was waiting for him.

"Enjoy your shower?" At that moment Harry wondered if Ron was secretly a Legilimens, but he needn't have worried because before he could answer he was already halfway out of the portrait hole so Harry pushed that idea aside and followed him down to breakfast.

****

Harry spent most of breakfast filling in Ron and Hermione about his meeting with Dumbledore the previous night and stealing glances over at the Slytherin table where Malfoy was once again pushing around his breakfast and listening disinterestedly to whatever Pansy and Blaise were talking about. Pansy was all over Malfoy as usual and Harry tried to ignore the irritation that was rising in him.

When they got to potions, he went to sit in his usual seat next to Ron and Hermione but before he had taken more than two steps, Snape stopped him.

"All of you will again be working with the partner that I assigned you last week. Take your seats and set up your stations." He flicked his wand lazily at the chalkboard at the front of the classroom, "instructions are on the board. You have one hour to complete the potion and the rest of the lesson to study it. There will be minimal talking."

Harry made his way over to Malfoy's desk, resolutely not looking at him and trying not to think about what he had done in the shower while thinking about him just an hour ago. This was going to be a long lesson. And with the new information that Dumbledore had given him, well, he was now more confused than ever.

"Why hello, Potter," Blaise drawled as Harry took his seat next to Malfoy. “How marvellous it is to see you again." His smile only widened as he flicked his gaze away from Harry and noticed the glare that Malfoy had directed at him. "Well, I'll leave you two to it, shall I?" He turned around to his own desk and started a conversation with Neville who had been observing the whole interaction with open curiosity. Harry shot him what he hoped was a reassuring smile and bent down to take his textbook out of his bag.

They had been working for half an hour already when Harry couldn't take the awkward silence anymore. He had to say something.

"Look, Malfoy-" Malfoy looked up at him with brilliant grey eyes and waited for Harry to continue. Some of his hair had escaped his hair tie since the start of the lesson and was falling artfully over his face. He bought up a perfectly manicured finger to brush it out of his eyes and Harry noticed that it was also curling slightly from the steam in the classroom. It was disarming.

"Are you going to sit there gaping at me all day or are you actually going to spit out whatever rubbish you were going to say, Potter?" He said wearily.

"Oh, I just….well…" Malfoy rolled his eyes and went to look away. Harry didn't know what possessed him but he grabbed his arm to get his attention back. Malfoy jumped and jerked back as if he'd been burnt and Harry hastily dropped his arm.

"Merlins tits Potter, just spit it out already so we can finish making this bloody potion.” He obviously wasn’t in a good mood today.

It all came out in a rush. "I'm sorry about last week. In class. When I said that the whole classroom smelt like you. I didn't know…what it was." Harry finished lamely as if that made this whole situation any better. He really wanted to drop his head against the desk, violently and repeatedly, but he resisted the urge. Barely.

"How eloquent of you Potter. Six and a half years of education and you can hardly string a legible sentence together." He replied coolly.

"Ugh, why do you have to be such a dick, Malfoy?" Malfoy raised his eyebrow and smirked at this.

"It's my speciality" he drawled matter of factly. Harry almost thought that Malfoy was joking with him but….no, he couldn't be.

"Well anyway, I'm sorry. For what it's worth." He mumbled before resuming his chopping of the newts eyes that Malfoy had so generously allowed him to cut up.

"I'm sure the Weaslette was pleased to hear that your Amortentia smells like me. Might put a bit of a damper on the wedding plans I dare say" Malfoy said with a smirk.

"Why would she? And why would you think that? I'm not getting married to Gin. We're not even together" Harry suppressed a shudder at the thought. He loved her but she really was like a sister and the thought of being with her was, quite frankly, disturbing.

"So you're not together? But, I thought…" he didn't sound scathing anymore. If anything, he sounded curious.

"Well, you thought wrong." Harry snapped.

"No need to get so tetchy about it, Potter." He thought that that was the end of the discussion but he was wrong because a few moments later Draco continued on. "So why aren't you with her? Does the Weasel not approve of you fucking around with his little sister?"

Harry had no doubt that he was blushing. "What the hell Malfoy! Why? Oh my god. No, that has nothing to do with it. As it turns out, I don't actually swing that way. So she doesn't exactly have the required equipment if you know what I mean? And don't call him ‘the Weasel’, for fucks sake", he added as an afterthought.

It took him a few seconds to comprehend what he had just said and he wanted to stuff all of the words right back into his mouth, but it was too late. He'd already said it, and Malfoy was looking at him with his signature smirk on his face. "Well, well, well. Who knew that Saint Potter was bent. Oh, imagine the headlines!" He said, his face lighting up at once. "The Boy Who Lived-"

Harry cut him off with a hand over his mouth before he could continue. "Shut. UP. No one knows okay. Well, I mean, I'm pretty sure that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny know but I haven't actually told them, they're just guessing."

He quickly dropped his hand when he realised what he was doing and Malfoy was quiet for a moment before speaking again, ”So I'm the first person that you've told?"

"Er, yeah. I guess." Which was pretty ironic really. "Although I didn't tell you on purpose, it just kind of came out." He mumbled.

"‘Came out'? What a fitting choice of words Potter." Malfoy drawled and then chuckled in that infuriatingly posh accent.

"Oh, fuck you. Look, I know that we're not exactly friends but, can you please not tell anyone about this? It's not that I don't want people to know, it's just that…I'm not ready for them to know. And I don't want it all over The Prophet." Harry looked up after a moment when Malfoy didn't reply.

Malfoy was looking at him curiously. "You're secret is safe with me. Just so long as you don't tell anyone that I'm bent too."

Harry managed to choke on the breath that he had been taking when Malfoy had spoken. "Why would you tell me that? And, well, I always kind of assumed that you were dating Parkinson." He asked after he had finally stopped choking. No thanks to Malfoy who had just sat there and watched him serenely, maybe hoping that he would indeed die.

"I really have no idea," Malfoy said, seemingly more to himself. Then speaking up a bit louder, "And no, I most certainly am NOT dating Parkinson. As much as she would like to be."

Malfoy didn't talk to him again for the rest of the lesson. Although a few times when Harry looked over to him it was to see him quickly turn away as if he had been caught looking. But no…that's…just because Malfoy is gay it doesn't mean that he has feelings for him too. They hate each other. Well, Malfoy hates Harry anyway. Harry definitely doesn't hate Malfoy anymore, if evidenced by what he did in the shower this morning. He stifled a groan. Snape in lingerie, Snape in lingerie, he chanted to himself over and over. He just couldn't figure Malfoy out.

Chapter Text

Over the next few weeks, Snape continued to partner him and Malfoy together during potions class and it was torture. Since that day when Harry accidentally admitted that he was gay, they had been fairly civil to each other. Even friendly you could say. So friendly that Harry even called him ‘Draco' in his head. Though he would never do so out loud. None of that was a problem though, the problem was the flirting. The first week, he thought that he was imagining it and he didn't want to get his hopes up. But by the second week, he knew that Draco was definitely flirting with him.

Draco was driving him crazy today. More crazy than usual. It seemed like he kept finding excuses to touch Harry. Brushing their shoulders together, holding his hands as he guided Harry in the proper way to dice his shrivelfig, leaning in close when he wanted to tell him something so that his breath washed over his face and all he could smell was the now familiar scent of vanilla that Draco carried with him. It was maddening.

"Stop it!" Harry hissed under his breath. He'd had enough. He'd been hard almost since the start of the lesson and it was driving him insane.

"Stop what?" Draco responded, feigning obliviousness. And trying, and almost succeeding, to look innocent.

"Stop touching me!" He hissed under his breath again, looking away from Draco's knowing eyes.

"Why, Potter, is it bothering you?" Malfoy continued stirring their potion, seemingly undisturbed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. It's distracting.” He knew that he had to be blushing now.

Malfoy hummed under his breath and then leaned in and spoke into Harry's ear, his voice had taken on a husky tone and it was sexy as hell. "And how exactly is it distracting you? Hmmmm? Would it be distracting if I did this?" He rested his hand on Harry's thigh and started to slowly and teasingly slide it upwards.

"It-yes- that's distracting." Harry tried not to let out the embarrassing whimper that was sure to come out if he opened his mouth again.

Draco kept moving his hand up and without any warning, well no, that's a lie, he really should have expected it, he cupped Harry's aching erection with a firm hand and Harry let out a gasp at the sudden pressure. He tried to look like he was working taking notes when Snape looked up to see what was going on. Draco whispered in Harry's ear again in that sultry voice, "Is this distracting Potter?"

Harry opened his eyes and looked to Draco again only to see grey lust blown eyes staring straight back at him. "Merlin, I want you."

“Interesting," was Draco's muttered reply before he took his hand off of Harry's cock and resumed his stirring of their potion. He then stretched out his hand again, palm up, ”Pass me the shrivelfig will you."

"Wha- what?" Harry stammered, confused by what had just happened.

"I said, pass. Me. The. Shrivelfig." He enunciated every word as if speaking to a moron though without his usual sneer.

Harry passed it over and went back to taking his notes about their potion. Draco didn't speak to him again and it felt like a lifetime before the lesson was over. When the bell sounded he gathered up his things, made a stammered goodbye to Draco and raced out of the class. He was sure that Draco was laughing at him.

*****

He managed to avoid Draco for the rest of the day but he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened during Potions that morning. He couldn't help but wonder if Draco was playing him. What if this was some kind of joke to make him look like an idiot? He wouldn't put it past Malfoy but with how he had been acting lately he just wasn't sure. The more he thought about it the more confused he became.

"You gonna eat that, mate?" He was startled out of his reverie by Ron who was eyeing the last of his treacle tart. He suddenly realised that he hadn't eaten any of it and had just been absentmindedly stabbing it with his fork while he was lost in thought.

"Go ahead, you can have it. I'm not really hungry." He mumbled, pushing his plate towards Ron.

Ron gave him a quizzical look. "Are you sick? Do you need to go to the hospital wing?"

He huffed out a long breath, ”I'm fine. Why?”

"Because you just gave me your treacle tart. Your untouched treacle tart."

"I already told you, I'm just not hungry." Harry snapped and hoped that Ron would just let it drop.

"Alright. Whatever you say." Thankfully he started eating and didn't say another word about it. He knew that this wouldn't be the end of it though judging by the side long glances that he kept getting from him.

****

Later that night he, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room working on their History of Magic essays. Ron was trying to get Hermione to let him copy hers while Harry was trying not to laugh at their arguing. He knew that Hermione would end up helping him, but she didn't want to give in easily.

"Honestly Ronald! If you had paid attention during class-" Hermione started before Ron cut her off.

"Seriously ‘Mione? Have you met Binns? We're lucky we haven't died of boredom yet having to listen to him drone on. Please, can you just help me get started? I'll do the rest myself, promise." He hesitated, shooting a quick glance at Harry before lowering his voice and adding suggestively, "You know, the quicker we get this essay done the quicker we can, er…"

"Well," Harry said, packing up his stuff and standing to leave, "that's my cue to leave. I think I'll finish this in the morning. 'Night guys". He was happy for them, he really was, but that didn't mean that he wanted to hear what they got up to in their spare time. There were some things that he just really didn't need to know. Especially about people that he considered family.

He didn’t make it very far though. ”Harry, wait!" Hermione turned her attention back to him, ”Ron and I, well, we wanted to talk to you about something.”

Oh, and he was pretty sure he could guess where this was going. But he knew that it was probably about time that he talked to them about what was going on. They were his best friends after all. That still didn't mean that he was looking forward to this conversation though.

He sighed, sitting back down. "Okay. I guess…yeah, okay". He sat in his favourite chair in front of the fire, plucking at a loose thread on his robes for a while and tried to avoid eye contact. He could see Ron and Hermione giving each other silent looks out of the corner of his eye. But he didn't want to be the first one to talk. He didn't even know what to say.

It was Hermione who spoke first. Of course. "Harry, we just want you to know that we know something is going on with you and Malfoy. We can see you watching him every day, and following his dot on the Map. And we see him watch you as well-“ She certainly does cut to the chase.

Harry looked up then and cut her off, "Wait, he watches me?"

Hermione gave him a small, knowing smile, "Yes, Harry, he definitely watches you. Just as much as you watch him." Harry could feel himself blushing and sank further down into his chair.

"Which is really saying something because you hardly ever take your eyes off the git." He shut his mouth upon seeing Hermione's glower and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Well, it's true isn't it?" Under his breath.

"Anyway," Hermione huffed, "It's okay if you're gay Harry. We've suspected it since Fourth Year actually. And it's okay if you like Malfoy."

Here, Ron spoke up again, "Like, not saying that we understand it or anything. The guys still a git. But you obviously see something in him that we don't. And we trust your judgement. Also, he hasn't called Hermione a …well, he hasn't called her anything bad this year so there's that I guess."

Harry was still looking down at his lap, picking at the loose piece of thread on his robes. He knew that this conversation was going to happen eventually and he was fine with that. What he wasn't expecting was the seemingly easy acceptance of his crush on Draco. He really did have the best friends in the world.

He looked up at his two best friends, his family, and let them see the huge smile on his face before leaping up and tackling them with a hug.

"Harry-gerroff! You- stranglin’-me-" Ron grumbled.

He jumped back, still smiling, "Sorry, sorry! I just wasn’t really expecting this is all.”

Hermione was laughing, "It's fine. But honestly Harry, what did you expect? Did you think that we wouldn't accept you?" She sounded a little hurt by this.

"Not at all. I knew you would. And I kind of knew that you knew. It's just that I didn't know how you felt about Draco and I wasn't sure you would like that it's, well that it's him."

"Draco? Seriously? Merlin, that's going to take some getting used to. I still don't know what you see in him. But if he makes you happy, I guess we can learn to live with it.” Merlin, he loved his friends so much.

"Ron, have you seen him? He looks like some kind of Greek God.” Harry gushed. It felt so good to be able to talk about this out loud after all this time.

"Personally, I don't see it. But okay." Harry laughed at his easy acceptance. "Also, you can tell your boyfriend that if he calls me ‘the Weasel' even once than I have the right to call him ‘Ferret’."

"What? He's not my boyfriend. We're just friends. Kind of friends. I don't really know how he feels about me." Harry's good mood had waned at remembering this.

"Really? Because you two have been looking pretty close over the last few weeks in Potions. And what do you mean you don't know how he feels? I think it's pretty obvious.” Ron nodded his head in agreement with Hermione.

Harry groaned and let his head fall back against the couch. "I have no idea what I'm doing and I have no idea what's going on. I know that he's gay. I know now anyway, until a few weeks ago I thought that he was dating Parkinson, she's always all over him. And he knows that I am and I'm pretty sure that he knows I like him because of that Amortentia incident. Maybe he's just leading me on though? Maybe it's all a joke and he just wants to make me look like an arse or sell the story to The Prophet.” He was starting to feel a weight being lifted from him that he didn’t even realise he’d been carrying.

"Parkinson? You thought he was dating Parkinson? Mate, anyone can see from a mile away that he has absolutely zero interest in Witches.” He must be oblivious if even Ron had picked up on it.

Hermione hummed under her breath. She looked like she was thinking. "Well, going by how much he looks at you I would definitely say that he's interested in you but if you want to then how about you tell us what's been going on and we'll see if we can help you figure it out?"

Harry took a deep breath. It was as good an opportunity as ever to voice everything that has been going through his head these past few weeks. "I guess it sort of started a few weeks ago after our conversation in Potions. It kind of seemed like he was flirting with me but at first, I wasn't sure so I just kind of brushed it off but he kept doing it. And then today in Potions he kept touching me, like brushing against me, leaning into me, whispering in my ear whenever he wanted to tell me something. It was driving me crazy so I told him to stop because it was distracting." He was sure that he was Gryffindor red by now just from the thought of what had happened next.

He paused, not sure whether he wanted to share the next bit. "And?" Hermione urged him on gently when he didn't continue.

What the hell, in for a Knut, in for a Galleon and what not,"Well, he just started touching me more. He put his hand on my thigh, and, well, I was already really hard and then he touch-"

"NO! No, absolutely not. Mate, I love you and I support you, but I can't do this. Do whatever you want with the Ferret, but for the love of Merlin, I do not want to hear about it. Ever. So on that note, I'm going to go to bed and hope to Merlin that I don't dream about anything that you've just told me." With that, he got up, kissed Hermione goodnight and went up to the boys dormitory.

After watching Ron leave, Harry turned back to Hermione who was trying to stifle a laugh. "I'm so sorry Harry, you know he tried."

"It's okay, it's not like I want to hear about what you and Ron get up to either.” Hermione blushed at this and then cleared her throat and kept talking as if the last few minutes hadn't happened. "It sounds to me as if Mal- Draco likes you. I can't imagine him touching you otherwise."

"It's okay Hermione, you can keep on calling him Malfoy." Harry tried not to laugh at her awkwardness and then relief, he really did.

When he was done laughing she spoke again. "Do you know what you're going to do? Have you thought about telling him how you feel?" She was serious now.

"I don't know. What if it is all a joke? What if he doesn't really like me? I'm going to look like an idiot. I feel like he's teasing me." He replied thinking back to how Draco had acted like nothing had happened after grabbing his crotch.

"I can't tell you what to do Harry. And I can't tell you how he feels, I can only guess. He's the only one that can tell you that and he probably won't unless you ask him. Just think about it okay?"

"Mmkay," he mumbled. Taking that as the end of the conversation, for tonight at least, he got up to head to bed. He hugged Hermione again as he walked past her, "‘Night ‘Mione. Thanks for everything."

"Anytime Harry. We'll always be here for you.” She gave him a small supportive smile.

He smiled back at her, "Yeah, I know".

Chapter Text

Harry was sprawled over the sheets in his four-poster bed, sweaty and panting.

"Do you like that?" A familiar deep, husky voice drawled from further down his body.

"Yes, god yes! More, please, I need more!” The blonde had been teasing him for far too long.

Draco tutted at him. "So impatient" he was lightly stroking Harry's throbbing erection with a spit-slicked hand. "Tell me you want me."

"I want you, I want you so much. Suck me."

"Mmmm, very well then." He started to lower his mouth over Harry's leaking cock and then…

Well, he'll never know what was going to happen next because it was at that moment that he startled awake at Ron's particularly loud snore.

“Fuck,” He swore out loud as he woke up. He was achingly hard and his sweat pants were so tight around his cock. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this turned on. No, okay, to be realistic it was probably a few nights ago when he had that spectacular dream where he was riding Draco’s cock.

He cast a Tempus to see what time it was, 3:21. Fuck it.

After listening for any other sounds and movement apart from Ron's thunderous snores from the bed next to his he pulled his sheets away and shoved down his sweatpants, grasped his cock firmly in his hand and started slowly stroking himself. He let out what he hoped was a quiet moan. He quickly sped up his hand and reached down with his other one to fondle his balls while trying to remember the last of his dream before it faded away. It didn't take him long to come. All he had to do was think about Draco touching him. When he was done he cast a cleaning charm and tried to go back to sleep.

*****

Harry had no idea what he was going to do about Draco. It had been a few days since his talk with Ron and Hermione and he was no closer to a decision. He needed to talk to Ginny. Ron and Hermione were great, accepting and supportive, but Ginny always called him out on his bullshit and told him the absolute truth, which was usually that he was being an idiot. He finally managed to find her alone in the Library before Dinner on Thursday night. Taking his opportunity, he pulled out a chair and sat across from her at the table she was studying at.

"Hey Gin." He tried his best not to look nervous.

She looked up at him with a brilliant smile. He might not be interested in women, but he could still acknowledge that she was beautiful. ”Hi, Harry. What's going on?"

"Er, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something? Um, but, if you're busy it can wait. It's fine." He got up to leave. He wasn't so sure he could do this after all.

Ginny grabbed his arm before he could escape. "Oh, no you don't Mister. I know exactly what this is about and I can't believe it's taken you this long to come to me. Now, tell me all about how you want to fuck Malfoy's brains out but you don't know if he likes you and you're too chicken shit to ask."

Well then.

"Can you at least keep your voice down?" He looked around the library to make sure that no one had heard her, but no one was paying them the least bit of attention.

"Relax Harry. I knew what you wanted and I put up a Muffliato as soon as you sat down. Now, spill." Harry just stared at her in disbelief as she sat there and eagerly waited for him to start talking.

He let out a breath and started talking. "Right, well….Gin, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't….what if I tell him that I like him and he just laughs in my face?” This was a very valid concern of his.

"Harry, listen to me, are you not a Gryffindor? And are Gryffindors not supposed to be brave and reckless? I also have it on good authority that he's been groping you during Potions class so the idea of him laughing in your face seems pretty slim to me." He made a mental note to speak to Ron and Hermione later, "But of course, if he does do that, then you could just Obliviate him and pretend that the whole thing never happened.” She gave him a mischievous grin, “And I could also hex him. I would you know, you know how good I am with a Bat-Bogey Hex.”

He did know, he'd been on the receiving end on more than one occasion and it wasn't pleasant. He sighed, "But-"

"No! No buts! You will go down to dinner tonight. When he gets up to leave you will follow him. We all know how good you are at following him,” Harry groaned, "You will catch up with him, pull him into a deserted corridor and tell him how you feel. And then you will ask him if Blaise is seeing anyone."

"Okay but,- wait, what? Blaise? What does he have to do with anything?"

"Oh Harry, do you really only have eyes for Malfoy? Have you not seen the guy?" Ginny went on in a faux dreamy voice, "I need you to set me up with him. That's my price for giving you this wonderful advice just now."

"Yeah? And how is it going to sound if I tell Draco that I fancy him and then ask if his friend is single?"

"Mmm, good point. I'm sure you'll find a way to work it into a conversation at some point though." She turned back to her books and picked up her quill to start writing again.

Harry smiled at her fondly. "I'm going to go down to dinner. Thanks for the help, Gin".

"Anytime Harry." She gave him a friendly smile before he got up and left.

*****

Harry couldn't remember the last time he was this nervous. He felt like he was about to walk to his death but the world was just continuing on around him. The Great Hall was loud and busy as usual during dinner but he hardly noticed any of it. He kept trying to sneak covert glances over to the Slytherin table to catch sight of Draco but he didn't seem to be there. Which was weird. Blaise and Parkinson where there, talking to each other with their heads close, but Draco's seat was unusually empty.

"You seem awfully distracted Harry,” Hermione commented from next to him. Her eyes followed his over to the Slytherin table. "Ah. Well, that explains that. Looking for Malfoy I assume?"

There wasn't even any point in lying anymore, "Yeah. I think I'm going to tell him."

"You think?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling at him.

"I know. I know I'm going to tell him. I'm definitely going to tell him. That is, if he ever shows up for dinner." Harry kept watching the Slytherin table. "I talked to Ginny earlier and she gave me a kind of pep talk I guess. And she also said that if it goes badly then I could Obliviate him and then she'll Hex him for me." Hermione gave him a disapproving look at this and he tried not to let out a laugh. "I was going to wait until he had his dinner and left the Great Hall, follow him and then tell him. I wonder where he is though, he hasn't been in here at all."

He looked away from the Slytherin table to look at Hermione again, she looked like she was thinking about something. "Hmm, he wasn't in Ancient Runes this afternoon either," she mused quietly. "Which is odd because I don't think he's ever missed a class. Maybe you could go and ask Zabini and Parkinson, they look like they're about to leave."

Sure enough, they had gotten up and were making their way out of the Great Hall. "I'd really rather not."

"Why not?” She asked, challengingly.

"Well, one, I kind of doubt they would tell me where he is. They will probably think I want to Hex him or something. Two, Blaise keeps giving me these weird looks lately and it's a bit unsettling. And three, Parkinson kind of terrifies me." He was a bit ashamed to admit that last one.

"Harry James Potter, are you not a Gryffindor?" She admonished him and slapped his arm with her folded up copy of The Daily Prophet.

"Ugh, why is everyone all of a sudden doubting my Gryffindor-ness?" Hermione just continued to stare at him. He hates when she does that because he knows that he's going to end up giving in. "Fine! Fine, I'm going. But if Parkinson Hexes me or Blaise does something weird then I'm blaming you." He sighs and gets up, "I'll see you later I guess, hopefully not covered in boils or with my bollocks hexed off.”

She actually had the audacity to laugh at him. "It will be fine. Now, go on, before they disappear."

*****

When he made it into the Entrance Hall it was to see it empty. He decided to make his way towards the Slytherin Common Room, figuring that it would be his best bet for finding Blaise and Parkinson. At least his fear of Parkinson was distracting him from his fear of confessing to Draco. He could face Voldemort, a Basilisk, a hundred Dementors, and a Dragon, but this? Somehow this was so much worse.

He made it all the way down to the Dungeons without seeing anyone and sat down outside of where he vaguely remembered the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room being to wait for another student to come along. He didn't have to wait very long before he could hear someone coming. He stood up so that they would see him.

"What are you doing down here?" The student, he's pretty sure it was one of the Greengrass sisters, asked him when she reached him.

"Hi, um, I just- I need to speak to Draco if he's around. Or Blaise. Or Parkinson, if he's not…around that is." Merlin, he was nervous.

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment, probably at the use of Draco’s first name he thinks, "Wait here, I'll be right back."

It wasn't long before the wall opened again and out stepped both Blaise and Parkinson. The latter had a sour look on her face while Blaise was giving him that weird, knowing smile he'd taken to directing at him lately.

It was Blaise who spoke first. "What can we do for you today, Potter? What brings you all the way down to our quarters this evening? Looking for a certain platinum blonde are you?"

Harry tried to ignore the look that Blaise was giving him. "I am actually. Have you seen him? Is he here?"

"Why should we tell you, Potter? Want to find him so you can Hex him I suppose?" Spat Parkinson.

"Ohh, no, I don't think that's what he wants to do at all, is it Harry?" Blaise was infuriating. He knew he was probably missing something. But as Hermione liked to remind every so often, his observational skills were kind of, well, crap.

Keep your cool Harry, keep your cool. "I don't want to Hex him. I just want to talk to him."

Pansy snorted, "I'm sure". Blaise was outright laughing now.

"Look, can you just tell me where he is? Or are you going to keep dragging this out? Because I've got all night. You won't get rid of me until you tell me. I'll camp here if I have to." He was losing his patience now.

Blaise finally stopped laughing. "I'm sure you would. Now don't get your knickers in a twist, he's in the hospital wing."

"Blaise!" Pansy shrieked, but they both ignored her.

"What? Why? What happened? Is he okay?"

"Oh, as if you care Potter.” He continued to ignore her.

"Look, I've told you where he is but it's up to him if he wants to tell you why he's there or not. Good luck getting past Madam Pomfrey though. She kicked us out before dinner and told us not to come back before tomorrow."

"Don't worry about that. I'll get past her. And, er, thanks." He wasn't really sure what else to say so he turned around and started walking back up the corridor. Behind him, he could hear parts of Blaise and Parkinson's hardly muted conversation.

"What the fuck Blaise? Why would you tell him? What the hell is going on?" Parkinson hissed.

"Oh, all in good time my dear….." Blaise teased her.

He couldn't make out Parkinson's answering protests as he rounded the corner and quickly made his way up to Gryffindor Tower to fetch his invisibility cloak.

*****

There was only one occupied bed in the Hospital Wing when he got there and it was near the far end, by the window. He made his way over, careful to keep quiet lest he wake Madam Pomfrey. He paused and took a few deep breaths before reaching out and pulling aside the curtain.

Harry froze. Draco was so beautiful. He was always beautiful but this was different. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, his face and his body so relaxed. His blonde hair was shining in the moonlight that was coming through the window. Merlin, he was in so deep. He took a few minutes to watch him, the rise and fall of his chest, before taking the vacant seat that was next to his bed.

He moved the chair closer to Draco's bedside so that he could rest his head a bit more comfortably, and, without thinking, took his hand in his. He tried to stay awake, he really did but it had been such a long day. Just a few minutes, he told himself before closing his eyes.

*******

"Potter!"

"POTTER!"

Someone was pushing him and he tried to brush them off. It wasn't time to get up yet, surely. But whoever it was was pretty insistent and they kept shoving at his side.

"Mmm, wha-?" Oh. It was morning. And Draco was awake. And he looked angry. His invisibility cloak had apparently slipped off during the night and he had fallen asleep while holding Draco's hand and with his head resting on the bed.

Wait.

Holding Draco's hand?

"Shit! Sorry!" He quickly stood up and dropped his hand. He missed the warmth immediately. "I guess I must have fallen asleep. Sorry."

"Potter, what the hell are you even doing here? Nobody's supposed to know that I'm here, least of all you." He bit out, putting an emphasis on the last word.

Well, that hurt. "I noticed you weren't at dinner last night so I asked Blaise and Parkinson where you were and they told me."

"You noticed that I wasn't at dinner? Why Potter, I didn't know you cared." He smirked and raised a single, perfectly arched eyebrow. Even when he had just woken up in a hospital bed the git was bloody gorgeous. He mentally shook himself. Not the time Harry, not the time.

"I always notice you. I do care." He almost whispered. Draco's face fell. Shit, he wasn't meant to say that out loud. "I mean, I wanted to talk to you last night, so I came to find you."

"So you found me. And then you proceeded to sleep in an impossibly uncomfortable chair all night next to my hospital bed while holding my hand?"

"Yep, that about sums it up. Although, I didn't mean for you to know that I was holding your hand.” He really didn’t.

"Well, that's a bit creepy, Potter, even for you." This was going very badly.

"It's not that I didn't want you to know, I just…Merlin, this is going so badly." He turned a bit to look out the window. He wasn't sure he could look at Draco right now without feeling like an even bigger idiot.

"Yes, yes it is. But do go on, I rather enjoy seeing you make a fool of yourself. There are many opportunities for it and yet it is something that I never tire of seeing.” Draco mused calmly.

He doesn't manage to suppress his groan, "Malfoy, can you just shut up for a second?" He was pacing now, up and down next to Draco's hospital bed and he was starting to panic. What the hell was he even doing here? Draco eventually took pity on him.

"Potter, sit down.' He did as he was told. "Now take some deep breaths. In.….Out….. In…. Out….. That's it." His voice was so soothing. "Right, now think about what you want to say for a minute. Then try again."

While Harry was trying not to be stunned with how Draco was acting, he spoke again. He sounded hesitant as he started to speak, "Potter, is this about what happened in Potions class the other day? Because if it is, I may have been a little out of line. And…I'm….sorry." He mumbled the last word.

He completely forgot what he was about to say. ”I'm sorry, but did you just apologise to me?" Harry tried to hide his grin but failed.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." He said in an almost teasing voice as his soft looking lips curved up into a small smile.

"Actually, it does have something to do with that. Kind of." He admitted.

"Oh." Draco looked down at his lap and fiddled with the bed sheets. Harry couldn't tell what he was thinking. He looked kind of disappointed and a bit nervous.

"Yeah, I need to tell you-"

"I get it, Potter, you don't have to say it. You're not interested. I misread the situation. It won't happen again." Now he sounded bitter. He was obviously trying to feign indifference but for once he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Maybe…maybe he did have feelings for Harry? Could he?

"It won't happen again?" Harry let the disappointment show in his voice.

"Of course not." Draco looked a little unsure as he said this.

"But what if I told you that I do want it to happen again?" He was feeling bold now.

"I-what?" Draco stopped whatever it was he was going to say and looked up at him as if waiting for the punchline.

"Draco-" His eyes grew wide at the use of his first name but before Harry could continue talking the curtains around their cubicle flew open.

Shit.

"Mister Potter!" It was Madam Pomfrey, he hadn't heard her approaching amidst their conversation. "What in Godric's name are you doing here? If I find out you have touched one hair on that boy's head while he has been in here, then so help me I will report you straight to Professor Dumbledore!"

"No! No, I swear, I didn't come here to hurt him. I just wanted to make sure that he was okay. And, er, I guess he is. So, I'll just be going now."

Madam Pomfrey eyed him carefully as he bent down to pick up his cloak from the floor. He made his way towards the door before turning around to look at Draco again. He seemed a bit pissed off. Back to usual, I guess. "I, uh, I'll see you later yeah?"

"Maybe, Potter.” He sounded kind of miserable.

He decided to take that as a yes anyway and turned around again to leave the Hospital Wing.

*****

Draco was released from the hospital wing later that day. At least, according to the Map, he was back in his Slytherin dormitory. He wasn't sure if he should risk going down to the dungeons again, lest he have to face Parkinson again, so he decided to wait until dinner and stick with his original plan from the night before. He'd also managed to find out from Hermione that the reason Draco had been in the Hospital Wing to begin with was because a sixth year Slytherin had hexed him.

He kept a careful eye on Draco all through dinner and when he got up to leave he followed him out of the hall straight away. He caught up to him about halfway across the Entrance Hall.

"Hey! Malfoy, Draco, wait up!" He didn't seem the least bit surprised to see him when he turned around.

"What do you want now Potter?" He sounded tired, worn out.

Harry quickly abandoned his previous opening line and instead asked him if he was okay.

"Of course, Madam Pomfrey did let me leave the Hospital Wing after all. Which you know full well seeing as I'm standing here talking to you now and the fact that you stared at me all through dinner." Ah, so he really wasn't surprised to see him.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Do you always have to be such a prat Malfoy?"

"So it's back to ‘Malfoy' now? I think you'll find that I do.” He was starting to get defensive again.

"Look, Malfoy, can we just talk for a minute? And can you not act like a git while we do it?"

Draco looked at the ground for a minute before looking up again and letting out a sigh, he looked miserable. "What do you want to talk about Potter?" Before Harry could answer though, he spoke again. "You know what? Never mind. I need to take care of something right now but I can meet you later, assuming that this is going to be more than a two-second conversation?" He raised an expectant eyebrow and Harry nodded in reply. "Astronomy Tower at 11. Don't be late, I won't wait around. And it will be after curfew so you might want to bring that Invisibility Cloak of yours."

"How do you know about my cloak?" He asked, shocked. But Draco was already walking down the corridor towards the Dungeons.

"11 O'clock Potter, don't be late", he called over his should before disappearing down the corridor. Though he could have sworn that he heard him mumble something that sounded a lot like, "I know everything about you, Harry."

*****

It was 10:30 when he finally admitted defeat on his potions homework and decided to make his way over to the Astronomy Tower. Ron and Hermione were getting fed up with his fidgeting anyway. He was so nervous that he was already out of the Portrait hole before he remembered his cloak and had to run back to his dormitory to get it.

Casting a quick Tempus he realised that he was a few minutes early so he tried to distract himself by trying to find Sirius. He always liked to do that on clear nights. He didn't have to wait long though before Draco showed up, at 11 on the dot. Of course.

"Potter."

He spun around to face the other man. His mouth went dry at the sight. He wasn't wearing robes, just a pair of sinfully fitted grey trousers (definitely not school uniform ones), a black turtleneck that was far too tight for its own good, and his hair was slightly dishevelled, falling around his face.

He cleared his throat and looked back up at Draco's face, "Malfoy."

There was a few minutes of awkward silence while they just stood there and looked at each other awkwardly.

"Thanks for coming,” Harry finally spoke up.

Draco made a non-committal noise. "Well, are you actually going to tell me why it is that you've gone to such great lengths to talk to me or are you going to make me wait all night? Because I'm a busy man, Potter."

For fuck's sake. He tried not to roll his eyes, he really did. He had had a lot of time to think about what he was going to say and he had a whole big speech planned out but somehow, that didn't seem appropriate anymore. Best keep it simple he thought. And tell the truth, no matter how bad it is.

"I know that we're supposed to hate each other, we've always hated each other, ever since First Year,” he paused at this to gather his thoughts, "But the thing is…I really don't hate you. And I don't think that I have for quite a while. It's…well, quite the opposite actually. I don't hate you at all. I mean, to be fair, you're still a prat. But I like you. I like you a lot." He looked away, back up at the stars. He could feel himself blushing.

The silence seemed to stretch on for ages, he was beginning to think that any moment now, Draco would start laughing at him and run off to go and tell the whole school that he's bent and in love with him. He would be a laughing stock. Maybe he would even go to The Prophet.

He was about to try and make an excuse to leave when he heard Draco move behind him. He thought that he was going to leave but instead he came over and stood shoulder to shoulder with him and looked up at the stars.

"Is this your idea of a sick joke, Potter? Have you been talking to Blaise?” He was surprised that Draco sounded sad at this.

"Why would I have been talking to Blaise? Except during Potions, which you know because you're there also. And no, this is definitely not some kind of a joke." He was so nervous and he wasn't sure where Draco was going with this.

"It's pretty bold of you to assume that I hate you, Potter.” They both continued to look up at the night sky.

Harry was surprised but still avoided looking over at the other boy and decided not to say anything in response.

"Mmm. To be honest, I'm not sure that I ever really did hate you." Draco said, almost ini a whisper.

"Malfoy, you've treated me like crap for six and a half years. I'm pretty sure that you did, in fact, hate me.” He hated to point it out, but it was the truth. He looked over at Draco now.

"No. I did not. I mean to say, yes, I may have treated you appallingly, but I did not hate you." He paused before continuing, he looked nervous. "In truth, I was just jealous I think. Jealous of you and your friends. Jealous that you chose them over me in first year." He looked deep in thought.

"You were a spoiled brat and insulted the only people who have ever been nice to me, what the hell did you think I would do? Ask you to Marry me?" He hadn't meant to say that last bit but too late now he supposes.

"Now, now Potter, let's not rush into such things,” he smirked at him while Harry just rolled his eyes. "I'm not trying to say that I behaved magnificently or handled it at all well. Just that that's the reason. And that I don't hate you. Never really did. And…well, I've really, really not hated you for quite some time now too."

Harry felt himself smile at this and hope bloomed in his chest. "And how long has it been since you've really, really not hated me then?" He continued to look at Draco who mumbled something under his breath. "You're going to have to say that again, I didn't hear you."

"I said, since fifth year." He'd never seen the other boy blush so much before. "There, laugh it up."

"Do you see me laughing Draco?" Harry was, in fact, laughing.

"Yes." He glared at Harry.

"Well it's an ‘I'm happy and so relieved laugh', not an ‘I'm making fun of you laugh'". Draco did not look like he believed him in the slightest and continued his glare. Harry was quiet for a minute while he thought about what to say next. "So, since fifth year? Merlin, why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Well, as we've already established, I did treat you like shit for a very long time. But also, I just didn't think that I deserved you. I still don't think that I deserve you. I didn't think that I would ever have a chance with you."

Harry was speechless at this admission.

"For Merlin's sake Potter, I can see the little wheels turning in your head, just spit it out already." Draco looked nervous again, though he was doing a good job at hiding it. Harry could only tell something was off because of all of the time that he'd spent watching him over the years.

"I just have so many questions. Like why did you keep on treating me and my friends like crap? And why don't you think that you deserve me? And what's changed?"

Draco chuckled and then let out a sigh. "Of course you have questions. I kept treating you like crap because, one, I had no idea what to do with the fact that I was attracted to you especially as I was still trying to come to terms with my sexuality. And two, how else was I supposed to act? Would you have not thought it was weird if all of a sudden I started being nice to you?"

"Mmm, I guess that's a pretty good point. I probably would have thought you'd been cursed or something or were playing a joke on me. I'm still worried that you are playing a joke on me to be fair." Harry was hesitant to voice that last bit.

"I'm not. I'm not playing any kind of joke." He took a deep breath and continued, "As for not deserving you, that's an easy one to answer. It's because I just really don't deserve you. You're a good person and I'm…not. I've done some horrible things. I'll probably do more horrible things in the future, not necessarily because I want to, but I might have to. You can do better than me."

"I think that it's up to me who I find to be ‘deserving' of me, thank you very much." He decided to ignore the comment of future bad doings for the moment, "What about my last question? What's changed?"

"Ah, well, that day in potions when you told me that you're gay?" Draco faced him again, "That's the first time that I ever thought that maybe I could have a shot with you. I always just assumed that you were straight and would settle down with the Weaslette and have a Quidditch team of children straight out of Hogwarts. Guess I was wrong. I decided to push a bit and see how you would react if I flirted with you and then on Monday, you were so hard. I could tell you were trying to hide it. Do you have any idea how hard I was too? Do you have any idea what you do to me? What you've always done to me?" His voice took on a husky tone as he continued, "You have no idea how many times I’ve wanked over that moment since Potions class."

They were standing almost nose to nose now, breathing in each others breath.

"I think I have a pretty good idea actually." Merlin fuck, he was so nervous.

"What do you want?" Draco let out on a breath as his eyes flicked between Harry's eyes and his mouth and he bit down on his bottom lip.

"I want…I want to kiss you."

"Then do it."

Of course he would make it sound like a dare. And Harry would never back down from a dare.

Draco had barely finished speaking when they both moved forward and crashed their lips together. He's not sure what he was expecting, but Draco's lips were so soft against his, the way they moved. The kiss was tentative, almost hesitant, at first but quickly deepened when Draco nipped at Harry's lower lip, seeking entrance. Harry gasped and Draco took that as an opportunity to swipe his tongue into his mouth.

Harry thought that he could stay like this forever, panting into each other's mouths, tongues sliding together, tasting each other. He didn't think that he would ever get tired of the way Draco tasted. All too soon though, Draco started to pull away. Harry groaned in annoyance and tried to recapture his lips but he pulled away again and then rested their foreheads together.

"I need to know what you want before we go any further. Because I'm going to make one thing very clear, I don't want to be your play thing, Potter. Or your thing on the side when you pretend to be straight and marry the Weaslette. You can have me, but only me."

Without even hesitating, he replied, "You. I want you." And then as an afterthought, because he figured that the other man could use a little reassurance, "Let me set a few things straight, okay?" He pulled back a bit and held Draco's face in his hands and looked into his sparkling grey eyes. "I am not going to be marrying Ginny, no matter how much Molly wants me to. We don't love each other like that, we're like brother and sister. And I'm pretty sure she has a crush on Blaise anyway. Also, when did I ever say that I was going to pretend to be straight? I only said that I just wasn't ready for the world to know, not that I was going to hide who I am. If it comes out, then it comes out and I'm okay with that. So long as you're by my side when it happens."

"Again, wonderful choice of words, Potter,” He laughed teasingly, "And you're such a sap".

Harry sighed before continuing on, "You'd better get used to it. I don't ever want you to be my plaything either, I don't ever want you to be my ‘thing on the side', as you so nicely put it".

Draco searched Harry's face, looking for something that he obviously found, "Okay then."

"Okay?" Honestly, he'd been expecting a bit more of a fight or resistance.

"Okay, we can do this. I'll be your…..boyfriend." A smile quirked at the corner of his lips.

Harry couldn't wipe the smile off of his face if he tried. He pulled Draco into his arms and held him as if he would never let him go again. Which he probably wouldn't. Not for a very long time at least anyway.

They stood in silence again for a while before Draco spoke again, "So, the Weaslette has a crush on Blaise? Interesting."

"For fuck sake, can you please stop calling her that? It's not nice." He was far too happy right now to hide his smile and try to be serious for a second.

"I think that we've already established that I'm not a nice person Potter." He replied with a teasing smirk but there was something else behind it.

"Harry. If we're going to date, then call me Harry."

He sounded it out as if trying it on for size, "Har-ryyy. Yeah, I think I could get used to calling you that. Doesn't have quite the same ring to it that ‘Potter' does, but I could get used to it." He said, smirking.

"You're such a prat." He really couldn't remember the last time that he was this happy. "But you're my prat now."

"Merlin, all of this Gryffindor sappiness. You know, if we're going to ‘date' then we'll actually have to go on one of those sometime."

"Mmm, we will, don't worry." He replied as he placed a kiss on the corner of Draco's mouth.

They stood together on the edge of the Astronomy Tower for a while longer, just holding each other and looking up at the stars.

"I'd better get going. Snape will be on the warpath if he catches me out of bed and he's usually in his office still about now so I should be able to sneak past him still. See you tomorrow?"

He gave him a chaste kiss on the lips before whispering against his ear, "Of course, just try and keep me away from you now."

"I wouldn't dream of it." He replied before turning to make his way down the spiral staircase before pausing. "Just one more thing though, I'm not ready to tell people. About us. Not just yet."

"That's fine. Me either. I have to tell Ron, Hermione, and Ginny though."

Draco rolled his eyes at this and feigned exasperation. "Of course. Bloody Gryffindors". When their eyes met again they were both smiling. "Goodnight. Harry." And with that, he turned and disappeared down the staircase without a backward glance.

Chapter Text

Harry slept in the next morning and was running late for breakfast but still managed to arrive just before the owls did. He looked over to the Slytherin table to check if Draco was there already and found him seated in his usual place in between Blaise and Parkinson. Parkinson was all over him as per usual but for once it didn't bother Harry in the least. Because he knew that Draco was his and even if he wasn't, she still didn't stand a chance. It was at that moment that the post owls arrived so he hurried to take his seat next to Ron at the Gryffindor table.

"Where's ‘Mione?" He asked, noticing his other friends absence.

Ron started to talk through his mouthful of scrambled eggs but just then, an owl, it looked like a school owl, dropped a small roll of parchment in front of him. He opened it straight away, curious to see who it was from.

Harry,

Astronomy Tower tonight. 11 PM.
Don't be late.

DM

He looked across the room to see Draco already looking at him as if waiting for some kind of an answer. Harry simply inclined his head in a fraction of a nod. Draco simply nodded in return and turned back to his conversation. It was weird. He seemed distant. As if nothing had changed between them. Maybe he was trying extra hard not to be noticed by anyone. Probably why he used a school owl instead of his family's eagle owl.

"So are you going to tell me what happened with the Ferret last night?" Ron was making no effort to lower his voice. "Going by the look on his face it didn't go too well, but then you're still alive, so I'm a bit confused."

"Do you want to say that any louder Ron?" Harry looked around but no one was paying them any attention. "Go and get Hermione after breakfast and meet me down by the lake, I'll tell you all about it." On second thoughts. "Well, I'll tell you most of it anyway."

Ron groaned at the last part. "Ugh, I can't believe this is happening. But sure, we'll meet you there if I can get her out of the library. Although you'll have to apologise to her for cutting into her study time. Honestly, she's gone mental. More mental than usual. She's been in the library since 5 o'clock this morning, freaking out about NEWTs already. She's driving Madam Pince spare."

Ron started to fill him in on Seamus' shenanigans in the boys' dorms last night while he was gone but he was only half listening. Instead, he was focusing most of his attention on Draco. Something just didn't feel right but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe Draco had changed his mind and didn't want to see him anymore. Harry felt his stomach drop unpleasantly at the thought. When he was done with breakfast he grabbed his stuff and headed out towards his first class, Care of Magical Creatures.

*********

Harry had been down at the lake for barely ten minutes when he heard Ron, Hermione, and Ginny coming down the grassy hill. He could hear them because Ron and Ginny were arguing, as per their usual. He leaned back against the trunk of the tree that he was sitting under and smiled to himself as they made their way closer. Some things would never change. Ron and Ginny loved each other like brother and sister but they also fought like it.

"-oh, shove OFF, Ron! Harry will be fine with it, he'll just tell me whatever it is anyway." Ginny stopped walking right in front of him. "Won't you, Harry?" Ron was glaring at her.

"It's fine, Gin, you can stay." Ginny looked at Ron with a triumphant look and plopped herself down on the grass next to Harry. Ron just huffed in defeat and sat in front of him with Hermione.

When Harry was done telling the three of them what had happened last night, there were varying reactions. Ginny was laughing and making fun of him, Ron looked a bit defeated, and Hermione looked deep in thought.

"I'm just worried now that he's changed his mind. He didn't look very happy at breakfast. Something just feels a bit off. I don't know." It felt good to finally voice his concerns but he wasn't sure whether or not he would want to hear what they had to say about it.

Until Hermione spoke, ever the voice of reason. "Harry, I really think that you just need to talk to him. Going by what you told us about last night, I have no doubt that he's interested in you, so maybe there's something else going on. I hate to say this, but we can't help you with this, you won't find out what's wrong unless you talk to him."

Ginny had stopped laughing now and was nodding her head in agreement with Hermione and Ron had relaxed a bit and had his arm wound around Hermione's waist. "You're probably right. I'm supposed to meet him again tonight at the Astronomy Tower after curfew." He paused, thinking, "but maybe I could just check up on him in the meantime, you know, make sure he's alright? I can just run up and get my cloa-" he was cut off by a chorus of objections before he could finish.

"Oh no, you definitely will not!" Scolded Hermione.

"Yes, do it, Harry!" Ginny laughed.

Ron groaned loudly, "Mate, why?"

"FINE! Just- fine. No more following him under the invisibility cloak. Scouts honour."

"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron asked. Ginny looked confused too.

"It's- you know what, Hermione, you take this one. You're better at explaining things anyway." Sometimes he honestly just liked to watch as Hermione tried to explain Muggle things to Ron. It was oddly endearing. He wonders if he'll need to explain things like this to Draco and chuckles to himself at the thought.

******

Harry was early again for their meeting in the Astronomy Tower and was pacing back and forth to try and get rid of some of his nervous energy. He hadn't seen Draco again since breakfast, he wasn't at any other meals, and he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He'd spent the whole day trying to tell himself that everything was fine but he hadn't had much success.

"Merlin, Potter, just stand still. It's wearing me out just watching you." He looked up to see Draco coming through the doorway and then stopping to lean against the rounded stone wall.

"Are you okay? I mean, I've hardly seen you all day and you weren't at dinner. Are you sick? Did someone hex you again?” He sounded frantic.

He let out a humourless laugh. "Potter, I assure you, I am fine. I am not sick and I have not, to my knowledge, been Hexed."

"So then what's wrong? And why are you calling me ‘Potter' again? I thought we'd agreed on first names, Draco?" He put extra emphasis on this last word.

"Nothings wrong. We do need to talk though." The look on Draco's face gave him a horrible sinking feeling.

"Well, by all means, go ahead then." He tried to sound calm but he was pretty sure that the worry was noticeable in the sound of his voice.

For just a second he thought that Draco looked nervous but before he could look too closely his mask fell back into place, well, almost. He still had that weary look about him that he'd had since he came back from the Christmas holidays. He started speaking again. "Potter, we can't do this. I've changed my mind."

Oh no. He didn't really need to ask what him what he was talking about but the masochist in him wanted clarification anyway. "What do you mean ‘we can't do this'? We can't do what?"

"This. Us." He said, gesturing between them. "We can't be together. I've changed my mind." He looked away as he said this.

Something still didn't feel right so he decided to call his bluff. "Bullshit."

"Excuse me?” Draco obviously hadn’t been expecting Harry to object.

"You heard me. Changed your mind? I don't believe you. You're lying." He took a few steps closer to him and Draco backed up into the stone wall.

"You're not a Legilimens, Potter. Or a seer as far as I'm aware, so don't presume to tell me when I'm lying.” He still wasn’t looking at him.

"I can read you better than I can read anyone, Draco, I've spent six and a half years watching you. You're lying. I know you are.” He knew he was right.

"I can't." He finally whispered on a breath. He was shaking a little but Harry wasn't sure if it was from the cold or nerves so he pulled out his wand and cast a warming charm on the off chance that it might help.

"Can't what?"

"I can't tell you the truth. You won't want to be anywhere near me if you know what I've done. What I am." His voice was barely above a whisper now.

He took a few steps closer so that they were standing right in front of each other now. All of a sudden it made sense and he was pretty sure he knew what this was about. "I know that you have a Dark Mark, Draco."

Draco sucked in a breath and held it for a long time before he seemed to realise and let it out in a rush. "Then why…why are you still near me? Touching me? Speaking to me?" He paused, grey eyes searching his face. "Why do you still look like you want to kiss me?"

"Because I do.” Without any further warning, Harry grasped Draco's face in his hands and closed the small distance that was still between them, pressing their lips hard against each other. He wasn't sure if Draco would let him, and he probably should have asked first, but he needed to show him just how much he still wanted him.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Draco wound his hands into Harry's hair and pulled him deeper into the kiss. He was right. Harry let out an involuntary sigh and Draco used that as an opportunity to slip his tongue into his mouth and the kiss became more heated with their tongues sliding together as they tasted each other.

Harry lowered his hands and took hold of the other man's hips and pushed him back into the wall and as their bodies lined up against each other he tilted his head back and let out a startled gasp as he realised that they were both incredibly hard. He moaned as Draco started kissing along his jaw and rolled his hips against his thigh. And, Merlin, it felt good.

Stilling for a moment and pulling away a tiny distance, he took Draco's face in his hands again and looked into his lust blown eyes, their noses touching as they panted into each other's mouths. "How could you ever think that I wouldn't want you when this is what you do to me?” He rolled his hips again for emphasis. “Do you have any idea how many times I've wanked while thinking about you? Or how many times I've woken up hard because I've been dreaming about having you in my bed?"

The Slytherin let out a breathless laugh. "So you only want me to get off with? Why, Potter, I'm flattered."

He sighed, "Draco, that isn't it at all. It never has been. And I'll happily tell you all about it later. Right now though…can you just….touch me? Please, just touch me. Because I'm harder than I've ever been in my life and I'm pretty sure that I'm about to come in my pants. I'd really like it if you touched me before I did though."

He had half expected Draco to laugh at him and was surprised when he instead reached down and cupped his achingly hard cock in his hand without even breaking eye contact.

Draco leaned down and whispered huskily into his ear, "Like this, Harry?" He started moving his hand up and down over his jeans before pressing down harder.

"Y-yes." He was impressed with himself for still being able to manage to speak a coherent word.

Without any warning, Draco spun them around, shoving Harry hard into the stone wall of the Astronomy Tower before kissing and biting his way down Harry's neck and then dropping to his knees in front of him. He started undoing the buttons and fly on Harry's jeans.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Draco didn't answer. Instead, he just pulled down Harry's jeans then grabbed his waist to hold him in place and started mouthing at his erection with his wet mouth through his pants. Harry moaned again at that.

"Impressive, Potter,” He murmured, possibly to himself.

"Draco, wait,” He really didn't want him to stop him but, well…

Draco's face fell. "You don't want this. You don't want me. I knew it." He made to stand up.

Harry hurried to fix his mistake "No, no, that's not it! I do want you, I really, really do. It's just that I, well, I've never…and no ones ever..you know.." He trailed off while gesturing at his penis.

"You've never had a blow job before?" He asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Um, no. No." This couldn't possibly get any more embarrassing.

"My, my, are you telling me that you're a virgin, Potter?" He could feel himself blushing, apparently, this could get more embarrassing. "Well, I'll have you know, that I am too, I don't give myself up to just anyone you know." Draco's voice lowered, "And I've never done this before either. But I want to.Oh, I want to.”

"If you've never done this before either then why do you look so smug about it?"

"Because now I know that I get to be the first one to suck the Chosen Cock." He smirked up at him.

Harry groaned. "Please never call it that again. Ever."

Instead of answering, Draco gently pulled Harry's pants down to his ankles and stared unabashedly at Harry's half-naked body. Draco started placing maddeningly light kisses along his cock from base to tip before suddenly swallowing him down about halfway. He let out a gasp and then a moan as Draco hollowed his cheeks and sucked. Nothing could possibly be better than this.

Harry needed to hold onto something so he grabbed a hold of Draco's hair, which the other man seemed to approve of going by the way he moaned around his cock as he continued to suck and bob his head up and down taking him in further and further each time. His hair was just as soft as it looked too, it was like silk, running through his fingers.

When Harry looked down again he noticed that, at some point, Draco had undone his own trousers and was rapidly stroking himself as he continued to suck Harry. This was his undoing, watching the other man pleasure himself.

"Draco, I'm gonna- I'm gonna c-" he tried to pull away from Draco's mouth but Draco just held him in place, took him all the way in, and sucked.

His vision started to blur as he called out a string of nonsensical words. He couldn't remember a time in his life when he'd ever come so hard. When he was done he sagged and slid down against the wall. He had his eyes closed and was breathing heavily but he could hear Draco move to sit down next to him.

"Well, that was…"

"Yeah. It was." He opened his eyes and turned to look at Draco who was already looking at him and realised that he hadn't returned the favour. "Uh, are you still-I mean- do you want me to do you too?"

He laughed, though in an oddly satisfied way. "That won't be necessary, Potter. I came in my pants as soon as you blew your load in my mouth."

But Merlin, that was hot. He felt his cock start to twitch again. He groaned. "You know if you keep talking like that you're going to get me hard again."

"Oh really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as he leaned in closer, "Well, that can certainly be arranged."

It was Harry's turn to laugh now. "Horny Prat."

"Mmm, I won't deny what's true I suppose."

********

"So, why'd you take the Mark?" They had been sitting in sated silence for a while and Harry thought it was probably time to talk about what they really needed to talk about. "I don't think that it's because you really wanted it, so why Draco?"

"Ugh, are we really going to talk about this?" He scrunched up his nose.

"Yes. I think we need to. For both our sakes. I need to understand why you did it and what you've done and you need to hear me tell you that it's going to be okay and I still want to be with you anyway. So yes, we are definitely going to talk about this."

"You don't know that you'll still want to be with me after I tell you." He muttered. "But I will anyway."

Draco was silent for a few minutes and Harry didn't push him. He supposed that he needed to think about what he was going to say so he let him have his time. So instead, he reached over and took hold of Draco's hand and held them together on his lap while he looked up at the night sky. He could wait if he needed to.

All of a sudden he started speaking. "It was the summer between sixth and seventh year. Father had been losing favour with The Dark Lord for quite a while due to some failed assignments. The Dark Lord thought that the best way to punish him would be by torturing Mother. Maybe if I hadn't been at Hogwarts still it would have been me instead of her, but…well, I wasn't there, was I." It didn't really sound like a question. He sounded guilty.

"Draco, it's not your fault that he tortured your Mother, you know that right?" Because of course it wasn't his fault.

"I could have stopped it though If I had been there. I could have offered myself in her place. Eventually I did, but it wasn't soon enough. I don't think that Mother will ever fully recover. He would Crucio her nearly every day or whenever Father had displeased him. Sometimes he would let the others do it. Even my Aunt Bella."

Harry was outraged, "Her own sister tortured her?"

"Blood means nothing if you disobey The Dark Lord. Our family was seen as a failure, why would you want to associate with that?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew that Bellatrix was a psychopath, but to do that to your own sister? It was unthinkable. It would be like him doing that to Hermione or Ginny or Ron. No. He couldn't even think about it.

"When I came back from Hogwarts at the end of Sixth Year, my Father already had the plan in place. I was to take the mark as soon as possible, he thought that it would go a long way in ‘confirming our faith' in The Dark Lord which in turn might put our family back in better standing." Draco was looking up at the sky now and leaning closer into Harry as if seeking comfort.

"I had only been home for a few days when I was summoned. It was horrible. I was surrounded by other Death Eaters as he stood in front of me and burnt the mark into my skin. For days all I could smell was the scent of my burning flesh. I still think I can smell it sometimes. I was in so much pain. Afterwards, when I was back in my rooms, Mother came to me and gave me some Dreamless Sleep. The next day when I woke up I had a House Elf bring me some more, I never wanted to wake up again. This went on for four or five days."

"You…you wanted to die?" He wasn't sure why it hurt so much to hear that. It wasn't like he wanted to die now, right?

Draco looked at him now, his grey eyes were bright and swimming with stubbornly unshed tears. "No. I didn't want to die. I just didn't want to live." Harry pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. With Draco's face nestled in the crook of his neck, he could feel his shirt start to become damp but decided not to say anything.

After a little while, Draco sat up and composed himself a bit before continuing with his story.
"None of that is even the worst of it though if you'll believe." He let out a humourless laugh. "No. After spending a few days in a comatose state, Father came to see me. He said that I was disgracing the Malfoy name and to come down to the dining room immediately as The Dark Lord had summoned me. He said that my absence would be most disappointing for my Mother. I knew what he meant. If I didn't attend then she would be tortured again. And it would be my fault." Harry thought about interrupting at this to point out his misplaced blame but thought the better of it.

"That night I was given the oh so prestigious task of killing Dumbledore."

"WHAT?" He couldn't stop himself from speaking at that.

"Potter, please do not speak again until I have finished, otherwise, I will not finish this." Draco directed a firm glare at him. Harry sighed and slumped back against the wall.

"I spent the whole first half of the school year trying to find a way to kill him. I didn't want to of course, but I also didn't want for anything to happen to my Mother if I was to fail. I never found a way to kill him. I tried sending him cursed objects, poisoned food and drinks. I couldn't do it and I failed.” He paused again for a few moments.

"The Dark Lord was most displeased when I returned home for Christmas. He had my Father Crucio me for hours while he and the other death eaters tended to my Mother. I'll kill every single one of them if I ever see them again. And my Father too for getting us into this bloody mess.” He sounded vicious and Harry's blood ran cold at all of this information and he tightened his grip on Draco's hand as he watched him speak.

"Later that night when my Mother came to visit me in my rooms she made me promise that I would seek help. She told me that when I got back to Hogwarts I was to go and visit with Professor Dumbledore, confess all, and ask for his help. I didn't even want to come back though, I wanted to stay and protect her but she wouldn't hear of it. She just wanted me to be safe." Draco turned his head to look at him again, "She used to write me almost every day, you know? But I haven't heard from her in weeks."

"I'm sure she's fine, Draco. She's a Black after all. They're all strong women.” He thinks of Andromeda and Tonks as he says this.

Draco didn't look convinced though. "I spoke to Dumbledore the first night back at the Castle. He assured me that he would do what he could to help me and said that he has a double agent he can use to help my Mother where possible but that if my Father continues as he is then there is little that he can do to help him. But to be honest, I accepted the loss of my Father a long time ago. He was lost to me as soon as The Dark Lord returned."

"So there you have it, I was Marked, my Mother and I tortured, I tried to kill the Headmaster, and now I'm running away like a coward." He looked him in the eye, "Now do you hate me? Do I disgust you yet?"

He didn't even need to think about his answer. "No. I don't hate you. You don't disgust me. Not at all. And you are not a coward. What you did was incredibly brave and honestly, if I was in your shoes and my Mother was being threatened, I would have done the exact same thing." Not one word of that was a lie.

"You don't have to pretend, Potter. You don't need to try and make me feel better about any of this. I shouldn't feel better about it." Now, he knew why Draco had looked so miserable all term. It's not just because of everything that's happened, it's because he's taken all of the blame upon himself.

"I'm not pretending. I would do anything to save either of my parents if they were still alive. I would also do the same for Sirius." Draco gave him a questioning look. "Oh, he was my Godfather, but I can tell you all about that later. None of this is your fault Draco. None of it. Not you taking the mark to protect your Mother. Not you trying to kill Dumbledore to protect your Mother. And definitely not you going to Dumbledore for help. You see what I'm getting at here? None of the blame is on you. If you're going to blame anyone then blame Lucius. Blame Voldemort. Blame the Death Eaters. Blame me if you want. But don't blame yourself."

They were both silent for a while, still leaning against each other up against the cold stone wall of the tower. Harry thought about casting a warming charm around them but that would involve moving to get his wand he really couldn't be stuffed.

"I'm a Death Eater too you realise?" It was spoken so quietly that he almost missed it.

"What? Just because you're marked that doesn't make you a Death Eater. It's nothing more than a tattoo to me. It's the things that you choose to do, the decisions you make, that decide whether or not you're a Death Eater."

"Wise words, Potter." He mumbled.

"Harry. And yes, I'm known to be wise when the occasion calls for it,” he said as he smiled to himself.

"Mmm, Harry.” Draco was starting to sound kind of sleepy now.

He wound an arm around Draco's shoulders again and pulled him, if at all possible, closer. "You would make a shit Death Eater anyway.” Harry said, kissing the top of his head.

"Yes, well, I think I've already proven that by failing to kill our Headmaster." He thought he could feel Draco smiling against his neck.

"So we're good then? You're done trying to break up with me? Because I'm kind of tired and I'd like to go to bed now." He really was rather tired, it had gotten quite late. He cast a Tempus and noticed that it was, not surprisingly, already two in the morning.

"Yes. We're good, Harry."

Chapter Text

Harry had spent much of his Sunday catching up on the weeks homework in the Gryffindor Common Room. He knew that NEWTs were getting close just from the amount of homework and revision that they were being given. He had no idea how he was going to get it all done. Because of this, he hadn't seen Draco at all after Saturday night so, for once in his life, he actually found himself looking forward to double potions on Monday morning.

Without a second thought, he made his way over to the desk where Draco was already sitting and sat down next to him. Draco gave him a small smile that was clearly only meant for him and Merlin, he just wanted to kiss him.

He heard someone clear their throat from the table in front of them. He realised that they had both been staring at each other and looked over to see Blaise staring at them both with a knowing smile.

"What have we here then?" He looked between them, apparently judging the situation. And apparently judging it correctly because next he said, "Maybe now that he's getting into your pants, Potter, he might actually shut up about you for once in his sodding life. Thanks for that."

Draco seemed stunned or maybe embarrassed into silence because he just sat there, blushing furiously.

"Er, thanks. I guess. And just call me Harry." Then, feeling brave, he added, "Or you know, maybe he'll just talk about me more now."

Blaise snorted at this, "Merlin help us all if that's the case."

Draco seemed to have recovered as he hissed through his teeth at Blaise, "If you know what's good for you then you'll stop talking right this second, Blaise."

Blaise looked like he was going to say something back but at that moment, Snape swept into the classroom and the lesson began.

As soon as everyone seemed to be busy with their potions, lust potions today, Harry figured it was probably safe to have a conversation unnoticed. He watched Draco, busy with their potion, for a minute more before speaking.

"So, exactly how much do you talk about me then? Hmm?" Harry couldn't help the smirk that came across his face.

Draco glared at him. "I never talk about you. Don't go getting a big head. Not that it could get much bigger that is."

Letting out a small laugh and then deciding that it was probably best to change the subject, he said, "I missed you yesterday."

Draco was looking down at the potion but Harry could see the small smile forming on his beautiful lips. "I just may have missed you too, Harry." He looked up as he said his name and they both smiled at each other. "We can't talk here though, Snape has been glaring at us for the last five minutes." He looked down again and continued to add ingredients to their potion as Harry looked up to see that Snape was in fact, glaring at them. "Meet me in the empty classroom in the Charms corridor at Dinner. I would suggest eating a big lunch because you won't be leaving that room for quite a while." He shot Harry a sly smirk and he could feel his face heating up at the images going through his head.

"Fine, maybe I'll repay the favour from the other night then." He watched as Draco's face reddened again and felt pretty satisfied with himself.

********

After racing up several flights of stairs and tearing through the corridors, he finally reached the empty Charms corridor. He got held back after Care of Magical Creatures because Hagrid wanted to tell him all about the new Niffler’s that he had managed to acquire for the second years so he had to run all the way here, hoping that he wasn't too late and Draco was still waiting for him.

He was still panting slightly when he opened the door to the empty classroom and saw the other man sitting on the professors' desk, leaning back on his hands.

Draco looked up upon hearing Harry enter with a fond yet disgusted look on his face. "Please do not tell me that you ran all the way here from Care of Magical Creatures. Your hairs a mess! That's not to say that there's ever a time when it doesn't resemble a rats nest, but today it's especially appalling."

Harry grimaced and took the band from around his wrist and used it to pull his hair back into what he hoped was a respectable looking bun. He'd managed to catch his breath now, "I got held back at the end of class, Hagrid wanted to talk for a bit, so I was running late and I was sort of afraid that you might just leave." He felt stupid saying it out loud.

Smiling and moving his way towards him with long sure strides, Draco tutted out loud. When he finally reached Harry, he placed a caressing hand on the back of his neck while the other cupped his cheek. He leant down and whispered in his ear, "Harry, of course I would wait. I haven't waited this long to finally have you just to walk away now."

Draco didn't pull back very far, he started placing tantalising kisses just below Harry's ear before making his way further down his neck. He was gentle at first before he started nipping and then biting and sucking on his neck instead. He never imagined that being bitten could feel so good and before he could stop himself he moaned out loud and Draco chuckled into his neck.

"Do you like that, Harry?" His voice was low and seductive. Harry shivered.

"Yes. Merlin, yes.” His voice wavered as he spoke. His hands found Draco’s shoulders and he pushed the other man’s robes down onto the floor.

Feeling himself harden already, he knew that he needed more, wanted more. He took Draco's face in his hands and brought their lips together in a hard and desperate kiss which was returned eagerly as he started to walk Draco backwards towards the desk at the front of the classroom. He stopped when he felt Draco's legs hit the solid wood.

Breaking the kiss, he pulled away a little, "I have no idea what I'm doing. I just need you to know that." Draco gave him a confused look but before he could reply he was already palming Draco's hard length through his trousers and they both groaned.

"H-harry."

Harry made quick work of the Slytherins belt and trousers before pausing at his pants. Fuck, he was nervous, but he snapped out of it when Draco spoke again, "Potter, snap out of it and get on your damn knees."

"You're always so bossy," he chastised before leaning in to take the blond's lips with his once again.

"Yes, well, I know what I want. And what I want right now is your mouth on my cock." That posh and commanding voice probably shouldn't turn him on as much as it does, he thought to himself. Fuck, it's hot though. He could feel himself growing even harder and his cock was straining against his grey school trousers.

Harry steeled himself before hooking his fingers into Draco's pants and sliding them down his surprisingly muscular thighs as his cock sprung free. Merlin, he was beautiful. His cock was fully erect now which just made Harry even harder as well if that was even possible. He looked to be about the same length as Harry but noticeably thicker. He started to imagine all of the things that that cock could do to him and bit his bottom lip.

He looked up and, for the first time since he got here tonight, Draco actually looked slightly nervous. Harry smiled at him as he took his erection in his hand and started to stroke him, "You're so beautiful." He whispered against his lips.

Draco let out a breathy laugh, regaining his usual confident composure. Harry sank down to his knees, still stroking Draco's stiff cock, and, without hesitating this time, started to gently suck on Draco's balls. He decided that he must be off to a good start when he heard Draco moan above him.

Taking his hand off of Draco's cock and instead using both hands to grab onto his arse, he licked a single wet stripe up to the tip where his pre cum was already starting to drip from. This earned him a sharp intake of breath and another moan.

Feeling more confident now, he took the head into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it as he sucked while trying to avoid using his teeth and then took Draco's whole length into his mouth at once. He gagged a little when he did this but tried again, relaxing his throat more as he did so.

He soon set up a steady pace and encouraged Draco's thrusting into his mouth using the hands that he still had on his arse. Draco had one of his hands tangled in Harry's hair and wasn't even trying to hold back any of his moans now and he really hoped that there wasn't anyone lurking in the corridors to hear them.

"Harryyyy-oh-oh fuck-Harry!" He shouted Harry's name as he came without warning in his mouth. Harry managed to swallow most of it but he could feel some dribbling down his chin.

When he felt Draco's spent cock starting to soften in his mouth, he let it slip out and stood up, reaching into his own pants to stroke himself until he came. It didn’t take very long at all.

After he’d cleaned them both up he cupped Draco’s face in his hands again, he looked so beautiful like this, sated and happy, still panting lightly with the hair that had escaped its tie falling around his face. This was his Draco. He was the only one that would ever see him like this and this thought made him smile.

"Why are you smiling, Potter?" Draco sounded a little wary and Harry laughed.

"You. I'm smiling at you. You're so bloody perfect, even when you're all rumpled. No, especially when you're all rumpled. I could spend forever looking at you." Draco was right, he's such a sap. Fuck it.

He leaned in, closing the small distance between them, Draco's mouth immediately opening to take him in and they both sighed into the kiss. Draco was sitting on the desk again now and Harry was standing between his open legs with his arms wound around his waist as Draco had his arms looped around Harry's shoulders. The thought that Draco was tasting himself on Harry’s tongue had his cock twitching again.

They lost themselves in the kiss until Harry's stomach made a growling noise.

He pulled back with a laugh. "I know you told me to eat a big lunch, and I did, but apparently it wasn't enough. Fancy going down for Dinner? It's not too late, there should still be food left providing Ron hasn't eaten it all."

"I probably wouldn't do that if I were you.” Draco sounded a bit wary.

Harry was confused and he supposes it showed on his face because then Draco elaborated, "I have it on good authority that Professor Dumbledore will be announcing the date of the graduation ball tonight."

He was still confused. Draco sighed dramatically, realising this. "Harry, the whole school attends the ball. You're the most eligible date in Hogwarts, every Witch in this castle is going to go mental trying to ask you as their partner."

Shit. He groaned and rested his head against Draco's shoulder. "Whyyyy?"

Draco laughed, "I have no idea. I certainly don't know what they see in you. Your hair is a mess, you dress appallingly, and you have stupid glasses. I don't get it."

"I'm glad to hear that you think so highly of my general appearance.” He mumbled into Draco’s shoulder. Draco’s arms were looped around his shoulders, and his around Draco’s waist.

"It's just lucky you have such a nice cock. It's really your only redeeming feature."

"Prat."

**********

It had been a week since the announcement of the graduation ball and things were just going from bad to worse. He was being hounded everywhere he went, to the point where he was seriously contemplating just wearing his invisibility cloak every time he left his dormitory. And he really would if it hadn't been for Hermione telling him that he can't just hide himself away forever. He had even overheard talk of girls trying to slip him love potions. Of course, Ginny found this last bit hilarious and insisted on bringing it up as often as possible.

The threat of love potions aside though, he supposes that the past week hasn't been all bad. He and Draco have been meeting up every night after curfew. Sometimes at the Astronomy Tower, or in the empty classroom in the Charms corridor if there was an Astronomy class taking place that night.

They mostly just talked, about everything and anything. It started off with less serious topics like Quidditch and school work until one night when Harry accidentally let slip something about his cupboard and things took a turn from there.

Harry told Draco all about growing up with the Dursley's, the abuse and not finding out he was a Wizard until he was 11. Then the next night Draco told him all about his childhood. He had expected that he would have had a fantastic childhood. Having been lavished with gifts and everything he could have wanted, doting parents. As it turns out, it was quite a bit different.

Draco told him about how close he and his Mother were, that he would do anything for her. But he also told him about his Father, how he was cruel and vindictive. How he withheld his love and constantly spouted off about blood purity and the evil of Muggle-borns.

He didn't know why he was surprised really. He knew that Lucius was a shit of epic proportions. But even so, he always thought that he loved his son at the very least. I guess not.

There was one night, on the Astronomy Tower, where they actually fell asleep and woke up shivering in the early morning light when their warming charms had worn off. The days were warming up now but it was still quite cold in the early morning hours. He couldn't remember a time when he had ever been so happy though.

And then there was, of course, the snogging, the touching, the blowjobs, and Draco's mouth. Draco's mouth. It was absolutely sinful the things that he could do with it, it should be illegal. It wasn't just the blowjobs and snogging either. Harry had quickly learnt that putting up silencing spells was always a good idea as Draco could get very loud. His moans were the most erotic thing he'd ever heard, and the words that fell out of his mouth were positively filthy. He soon found that he couldn't get enough. Even after spending most of the night together he would often find himself back in his four-poster bed afterwards, wanking to the memories of the ways that they had touched and pleasured each other amidst thoughts of what else they could do to each other.

It was at this moment that he realised he was so done for.

*******

On Wednesday morning he came down the stairs from the boys' dormitory on his way down to breakfast when he saw Hermione sitting on a sofa in the Common Room, presumably waiting for Ron to come down.

"Morning, ‘Mione." He greeted her with a wide yawn and stretched his arms above his head. It had been another late night with Draco and he hadn't snuck back into his bed until 3 am. "Ron's still in the shower but he said he won't be very long. Said he'll meet us down in the Great Hall." He was expecting her to get up and follow him but instead, she stayed seated.

"That's fine. I was actually kind of hoping that we could talk, just you and me." He was pretty sure that he wouldn't like wherever this conversation was going but he sat down on the sofa nearest her anyway. He waited for her to talk again, deciding that it was probably in his best interests not to encourage whatever conversation she wanted to have.

"I want to talk to you about sex." He made to get up but before he could make a run for it, she had raised her wand and cast an Incarcerous on him and he was strapped to the chair.

"What the fuck, Hermione?!" He REALLY did not want to have this conversation. With anyone.

"Harry James Potter, we are having this discussion whether you like it or not! Safe sex is incredibly important." She huffed. There were several other students in the common room despite the early hour and they were all pretending that they weren't paying attention to them but he could tell that they were trying to stifle their laughter and interest. Merlin, he hated it when she got like this.

He groaned and let his head fall back against the couch. "Well, I guess I don't really have a choice at this point. But you know, could you talk a little quieter? Or put up a Muffliato maybe? Can you Obliviate me afterwards?" He pulled at his restraints a little, testing them. He had no hope of escaping as he'd left his wand in his dorm. "And I'm not sure yet what my opinions on bondage are yet. Can I have a safe word? Hmmm, what should it be? How about ‘I hate you so much right now and I can't believe you're doing this to me but I'm also kind of not surprised at all'. A safe sentence is probably safer than a safe word. Right?"

Hermione sighed at his blatant sarcasm but he could see the fond little smile that was threatening to form, "I just want you two to be safe Harry. I don't know how much Draco knows about sex and I did actually think about having this conversation with the both you but surprisingly, I haven't been able to get the two of you together." Thank Merlin for small mercies then, "Harry, I know that you've been sneaking off to see him every night and it seems to me like things are getting a bit serious between the two of you. I just want you and Draco to be safe. Ron and I practice safe sex all the time."

Oh god, this was mortifying. "Whyyy are you doing this to me? What have I done wrong? And please, never, ever mention yours and Ron's sex life ever again. I love you both, but there are just some things that I don't need to know about. Although, while we're on the topic, do you think you can take care of the silencing charms from now on because Ron is shite at them."

She blushed and cleared her throat and Harry smiled as he felt a little bit vindicated. "Er, yeah, sorry about that, I'll remember that for future reference. Moving on then. I'm going to assume that the Dursley's never gave you the sex talk but then it's also a bit different for Witches and Wizards as there are various spells that we can use for things like STD protection and contraception, instead of condoms." She was in full lecture mode now and he knew that there would be no stopping her.

He could not believe that she was actually going through with this. He closed his eyes and mentally slapped himself for leaving his wand in his room. "Now, I ordered some books by owl post and I've been doing some research about sex between Wizards-" Hermione was cut off when Ron hurried over to where they were sitting.

"Oh, no, no, no." Ron raised his wand and cast a ‘Finite' and Harry's bonds disappeared. He let out a sigh of relief at the appearance of Ron and rubbed at his wrists were the bonds had been. "Hermione, we agreed to do this together." Okay, he obviously spoke too soon.

"I hate you both, you know that?" It certainly wasn't the truth but he wanted them to feel at least a little bit guilty.

"Honestly, that's pretty fair right now. Right, anyway, I'm just going to give you this," he handed Harry a folded piece of parchment which he accepted a little suspiciously.

Unfolding the piece of parchment he noticed that all that was written on there were four spells, two he knew and two that he didn't with the incantations and correct wand movements. A silencing spell, a cleaning spell, a lube spell, and a protection spell.

He felt himself flush and mumbled an awkward thanks without looking at either of them.

"Okay, well, glad that's over. Let's never talk about this again.” And with that, Ron got up to leave.

Hermione looked like she wanted to say something else but Ron gave her a quick look and shook his head minutely. She apparently got the silent message because she stayed quiet.

"I wouldn't dream of it. I'll just pretend that I've been Obliviated. Merlin knows that's my deepest wish right now anyway."

**********

The final straw came after lunch later that same day. He was on his way to Transfiguration when a girl that he vaguely recognised as a sixth year Gryffindor approached him. Ordinarily, the small brunette may have been perfectly harmless, but he recognised the determined look on her face and tried to look for an escape but it was already too late.

She saw him look at her and she called out his name. He wondered to himself if it would be rude to just turn around and run away as fast as he could. It probably would be. He grudgingly stopped walking and waited for her to approach him.

"Hi. I was really hoping that I could catch you alone before your next class." And yes, he certainly was alone he realised as he looked around. She shot him what she probably thought was a winning smile and he returned it with what probably looked more like a grimace.

But she wasn't deterred. "I was wondering if you had a date for the Graduation Ball yet? Would you like to go together?" She lowered her voice a little even though no one else was in the corridor, "I overheard your conversation with Ron and Hermione this morning in the common room and….well, I just thought I'd let you know that I'd be willing to practice safe sex with you if you want." And then she winked at him. WINKED at him.

When he recovered from his shock at her proposition he finally managed some semblance of an answer. "I, er, well, No. No thank you. I'm actually already seeing someone and he's already agreed to be my date." He made a mental note to actually ask Draco to be his date.

She immediately glossed over his rejection and latched onto the one thing that he hadn't meant to let slip out, "Him? What- are you gay Harry? That certainly explains a lot actually. I always wondered why you didn't have a girlfriend. I actually thought that you and Ginny were together but when I asked her she just laughed in my face. It makes so much sense now." She looked thoughtful.

"Um, yeah, yeah, I'm gay. It's just that I haven't really told a lot of people yet so it's not common knowledge."

Apparently, she liked the sound of being a part of a secret, "Oooo, who else knows?"

"Just Ron, Hermione, Gin, and er, my boyfriend." It felt good to say boyfriend, even if no one knew who he was.

Without missing a beat, "Who's your boyfriend then? I bet he's really fit. Is he really fit?"

He laughed at this, "Yes, he is incredibly fit. But I'm not telling you who he is, we haven't agreed to come out together yet." Looking around for a reason to escape this conversation he conveniently remembered that he was in fact late for class. "Look, I really need to get going, I'm late for class and McGonagall is going to kill me. It was, er, nice talking to you."

"Of course, I guess I had better get to class too. See you later, Harry." Luckily, she didn't wait for a reply before turning and striding off down the corridor.

******

Afternoon lessons seemed to drag on forever. He ended up being 15 minutes late to Transfiguration and Professor McGonagall was quick to take five points from Gryffindor for his tardiness. The lesson only got worse from there. He was so distracted by his conversation with the sixth year girl that he failed to successfully transform his porcupine into a pin cushion.

"Mister Potter, I trust that by now you realise that you need to achieve a satisfactory mark in your Transfiguration NEWT to gain acceptance into the Auror program?" McGonagall had noticed him struggling.

"Yes, Ma'am. Sorry". The truth was though, he wasn't entirely sure that he even wanted to be an Auror anymore. It had been his dream ever since he even knew what an Auror was but now he was tired of fighting. It wasn't really what he wanted to do with the rest of his life yet it was what everyone expected him to do when he left Hogwarts.

He ignored Hermione's knowing look and tried to turn his concentration back to transfiguring his porcupine. He felt guilty about not wanting to join the Auror force. Ron was expecting him too, they had been talking about it for the last couple years. They would join the academy together as soon as they were graduated. He wasn't sure how Ron would feel if he told him that he'd maybe changed his mind.

He sighed in frustration as he once again failed to transfigure his porcupine and finally caved and asked Hermione for some help.

******

Walking into the Great Hall it took him a while to notice the stares and whispers that were following him. He was so hungry that all he could think about was food. Hopefully, there would be Treacle Tart, there usually was on Wednesdays. It wasn't until he took his seat between Ginny and Hermione, with Ron on the other side, that he noticed it.

He lowered his voice and whispered to the others, "What the hell is going on?" They all looked at each other awkwardly, apparently deciding who was going to tell him. Ginny apparently got the short straw.

"Well, there's been a rumour spreading around school that you're gay.” She said slowly.

"I am gay.” He replied matter of factly, heaping some mashed potatoes onto his plate.

She looked at him quizzically for a moment, "I thought that you might be more angry about this, Harry. I didn't think that you were ready to come out yet."

"I'm not really. But I also never wanted to hide it either. So if people know then I'm not going to go around and deny it or anything. Although, do remind me to be more careful with what I say to sixth year Gryffindor girls from now on."

Ginny slapped his arm playfully, "Hey! I take full offence to that."

Harry laughed. "Don't worry Gin, I wasn't talking about you. Some girl, small brunette, came up to me before class today and asked me if I would be her date to the graduation ball and then proceeded to tell me that she would be happy to practice safe sex with me." He glared at Ron and Hermione as he said this last bit. Hermione had the decency to look apologetic but Ron just threw his head back in loud guffaws.

Ginny was also laughing uncontrollably next to him, "Are you talking about Gemma Maren? Oh, this is hilarious. You know that she thought we were dating? I wish I could have seen the look on her face, she's done nothing but talk about you for the last week, trying to ask my advice on how best to ask you out. She was even considering love potions but I managed to talk her down from that one."

"What? Ginny, I could have used a warning.” He looked at her incredulously.

"Oh no, I wanted to see what would happen if she asked you." Harry opted not to answer, he was irritable now.

"This is bloody ridiculous though," he said, referencing all of the stares and whispers being directed at him. Before he could stop himself, he rose from his seat to address the occupants of the hall and everything conveniently went even quieter.

"I guess you've all heard the rumours that I'm gay by now and you're wondering whether or not they're true. Well, they are. I'm gay. Does anyone have a problem with that?" No one said anything for a minute but then a Ravenclaw boy spoke up.

"Do you have a boyfriend? Because, if you're interested….." He trailed off suggestively. Great, and here he was thinking that the propositioning would stop when they all found out that he was gay. He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I do have a boyfriend. And no, before anyone asks, I am not going to tell you who he is. Not yet. That's something that we need to discuss between us. Anything else?" He did his best to avoid looking at Draco the whole time he was talking but he could feel grey eyes burning a hole through him.

The whole hall erupted into chatter again as he sat down. When he looked up at the staff table, Dumbledore was giving him a knowing look. Of Course Dumbledore bloody knew. He probably knew that he was dating Draco too.

******

When he finally made it up to the Astronomy tower that night he was completely drained. He had been constantly hounded by students from the moment of his ‘coming out' and hadn't had a single moment of peace.

It ranged from upset girls asking him if he was ‘sure' that he was really gay and maybe he was actually bisexual. He quickly set them straight on that. So to speak. Others came up to congratulate him on his coming out and offered him support and unity. And then there were Seamus and Dean who sought him out to give him some very eye opening ‘pointers' to put it politely. Apparently, they had been dating since this time last year.

He was relieved to find that Draco was already there waiting for him and he seemed to have bought blankets and pillows with him tonight.

He let out a relieved sigh as he sat down on a pillow next to him and pulled a blanket over his lap.

"I'm so happy to see you. Today has been torture." He placed a light kiss on the corner of Draco's mouth before pulling back. He didn't make it very far before Draco pulled him back in and kissed him again.

"If you're really that happy to see me then the least you could do is kiss me properly.” He smiled and leaned in to kiss him again.

"Git." He shoved him lightly with his elbow and smiled.

Draco's voice took on a more serious tone. "How are you feeling?"

He didn't need to ask what he was referring to. "Relieved I guess. It's scary but it's kind of nice not having to hide anymore. And everyone seems to be really supportive. Hey, did you know that Dean and Seamus are together?"

Draco rolled his eyes at this, ”Please, anyone with eyes can see that those two are dating."

"Well, I didn't." He mumbled, a little embarrassed.

"You really are that oblivious aren't you?” He quirked an eyebrow at Harry.

"I guess so."

"But I lo-" Draco cut himself off and cleared his throat before he could finish his sentence.

Harry sat up straighter so that he could see Draco's face better. "But you what? What were you going to say?" Should he hope?

Draco just cleared his throat and changed the subject instead. He decided to let it drop for now.

"What do you want to do about us now that everyone knows you're gay? You told them all that you have a boyfriend, you know that it's only a matter of time before they find out who it is. Your adoring fans are going to be all over this, trying to find out who it is."

"Mmmm. Should we just tell everyone? Like, I don't know, just start snogging in the Great Hall tomorrow morning at breakfast?"

"That would certainly be one way to do it." He looked like he was thinking. "It's a Hogsmeade weekend this week, would you like to accompany me?"

"Draco Malfoy, are you asking me out on a date?" He couldn't stop the ridiculous smile that was pulling at his lips.

"Yes, Potter, I'm asking you on a bloody date, Merlin help me. But if you don-" Harry cut him off, worried that he was going to take it back.

"No! I mean yes, I do want to go on a date with you. I would really love that." He looked relieved and it was kind of sweet "Draco, I'm your boyfriend, I was never going to say no. Although it is kind of cute that you were nervous."

"Fuck off," he mumbled but without any real venom in his voice.

Chapter Text

Harry had spent the last couple of days eagerly awaiting their Hogsmeade trip. Now that it was here though, he was suddenly nervous. His mind had helpfully chosen Saturday morning while he was still lying in bed, fuzzy from sleep, to conveniently remember that the only other date he had ever been on was the one with Cho back in fifth year and that had been a disaster. Shit.

Suddenly, he realised that he hadn't even thought about what they would do once they actually got to Hogsmeade. They had already agreed to meet up in the courtyard at 10 am but he had no idea what to do after that.

He was fairly confident in assuming that Draco would most definitely not be impressed if he took him to Madam Puddifoot's. The Hogshead maybe? But then there weren't many people that went there so maybe the Three Broomsticks then? That would probably be more appropriate for the purposes of their outing today.

Wrenching apart Ron's bed curtains and being immediately thankful that he was alone, he shoved him awake. "Ron! Wake up! It's important!" He tried to keep his voice low so as to not wake up the others.

Ron just groaned, and rolled over, and mumbled something into his pillow. Harry shoved him again. "Wake up!"

After some more prodding, he finally responded. "Fine! I'm awake okay? What the bloody hell do you want? This better be good."

"I'm-I'm freaking out okay. It's Hogsmeade day, which means date with Draco day and I have no idea what we're going to do. I haven't even thought about it, I haven't planned anything. He's going to kill me!" He ran a hand through his hair and threw himself down on Ron's bed, throwing an arm over his face as he lay there.

"Mate, you do remember who he is right? The ferret probably has the whole bloody thing planned out from start to finish. You won't have to do anything." Harry thought about this for a moment and then lowered the arm he had slung over his face. Ron was probably right. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"What? Oh, yeah, sorry. I guess I'll just go have a shower. Don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep now." As Ron started snoring again almost immediately, he gathered up his things and headed to the showers.

********

When he went down to get something for breakfast the Great Hall was almost deserted still. It was 9 am on a Saturday after all so most students were probably still in bed. Hermione was one of only six other students already at the Gryffindor table, she barely looked up from her book as he approached.

"You're up early, Harry. Excited for your date then?” She asked, nose still in the giant book she was reading.

He took the empty seat next to her and started piling some bacon onto his plate. He was probably too nervous to eat but he thought that he should at least try. "Terrified actually." Thinking about his earlier conversation with Ron, he decided he could do with a second opinion and he sighed. "Hermione, I have no idea what I'm doing. What if I fuck it up? What if he never wants to go on another date with me ever again?" He was fairly certain that this was pretty likely.

She put her book down on the table in front of her and looked up at him, ”I've seen the way he looks at you, Harry. I really don't think that's going to happen. If you're really worried though, I think that it's the little things that matter sometimes. You know, like holding his hand, holding doors open for him, carrying his shopping."

He nodded his head, “Alright, yeah, I can do all of that.”

******

He shuffled around nervously as he waited in the courtyard for Draco, who showed up exactly on time looking completely unruffled. "How are you not nervous?"

"Should I be? Are you?" He took Harry's hand and entwined their fingers together, then leaned in to give Harry a light kiss on his lips. A few students nearby gasped and started whispering to each other.

"It's our first date, of course I am." He felt some of the tension leave his shoulders as he admitted this out loud.

Next to him, Draco let out a breath and tightened his grip on the hand that he was holding. "I guess I am too." And he did sound nervous now. "I know that this will end up in The Prophet which means that my parents will find out and….I don't so much care what Father thinks but I still haven't heard from Mother at all and I really don't know what she'll say about all of this. I haven't even told either of them that I'm gay. The only people that know are you, Blaise, Pansy, and your Gryffindors."

"Pansy and Blaise know? I guess I figured that Blaise knew, but Pansy? She's always all over you!"

"Mm, I know." He replied with a smirk as they started to make their way down the path, "Don't think that I never noticed the way that you glare at her when she is. It was just a cover though, which after today, will not be needed. Do you hate Pans a little less now?" He asked, raising a perfectly groomed eyebrow.

"I guess I was pretty jealous. She still scares the shit out of me though.” He muttered.

"I suggest never letting her hear you say that, as she will most certainly use it to her advantage if she ever finds out."

As they made their way, still hand in hand, down the path towards Hogsmeade they seemed to come to a silent, mutual decision to distract each other with conversation about Quidditch and schoolwork. By the time they had reached Hogsmeade, they had attracted quite a lot of attention and word was spreading fast.

Some people appeared shocked but the most disturbing reaction was from the people that didn't seem the least bit surprised and actually happy about it, which was nice, but completely unexpected. He got his answer as to their reactions when Seamus and Dean approached them.

"Thanks to you two, I just won myself 20 Galleons!" Seamus thumped Harry on the back and gave him a massive grin.

Harry gave him a confused look, ”What are you talking about?"

"You two, together. A bunch of us have had a bet going for the past couple of years. Some of us thought that all of that blind hatred was really just a lot of built up sexual tension. Others disagreed. So we started a betting pool sometime during fifth year."

Harry was standing there, in the middle of the street, with his mouth hanging open. He was speechless.

Eventually, he recovered enough to reply, "How did I not know about this?"

"Well it's not like we could tell you, it could have unfairly influenced the outcome.” He said this as if it made perfect sense. Though, he supposes that it does.

"Ugh, I can't believe you've all been betting on this.” This was embarrassing.

Dean piped up then, ”It's not just us, the Slytherins were in on it too."

"What?!" Draco finally decided to contribute to the conversation.

"Yeah, apparently you talk about Harry to the point where some of them want to hex you, Malfoy.” Seamus and Dean started laughing at this.

Draco sounded like he was choking on air before he spat out, ”I most certainly do not!”

Deciding it was probably best if they took their leave, Harry said a quick goodbye to Dean and Seamus before steering Draco away towards Honeydukes.

Draco was fuming but Harry couldn’t help but laugh which only earned him a half hearted glare from the other man.

******

After spending some time walking around the shops and generally just making a spectacle of themselves, Harry was starting to get pretty hungry. He was carrying a bag full of Honeydukes sweets but he figured that that probably wasn't a very suitable lunch.

"I'm getting kind of hungry, fancy getting something to eat?” He turned to look at Draco.

"The Three Broomsticks?” He suggested in response.

"Sounds good to me."

When they entered, they noticed that the place was packed with school students. They somehow managed to find a small booth towards the back of the pub and sat down to look over their menus. They both decided on the Shepherds Pie.

Harry thought that he should do the gentlemanly thing and go and order their food for them. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Butterbeer is fine. Thanks." He gave him a small smile. He seemed nervous again now that they were so closely surrounded by people with so much attention on them so he made sure to be quick at the bar.

When he returned with their drinks, there was a younger Slytherin boy leaning threateningly over their table towards Draco. "-ever again, I will personally make sure that you pay, do I make myself clear?"

"Oh, perfectly. Now, fuck off and leave me alone, do I make myself clear?" He sneered and Harry was incredibly grateful not to have that cold sneer directed towards him.

Reaching their table and setting a drink in front of Draco, he turned to the mystery Slytherin boy, "Can I help you with something? Or are you done harassing my boyfriend?"

"Your boyfriend? Right. Do you even know about the mark on his arm? Do you even know the scum that he really is?” The Slytherin boy asked him challengingly.

"Yes. I do. I know that he's marked and it doesn't bother me in the least. And I know who he is. He is Draco Malfoy, the man that I am in love with. So how about you do as he asked and fuck off before I make you." Harry already had his hand wrapped warningly around his wand and he saw the other boys eyes flick to it.

He glared at Harry before turning it towards Draco, "You'll be sorry for this. You and you're bloody Halfblood boyfriend. The Dark Lord will make sure of that." He was gone before Draco could finish drawing his wand to retaliate.

Harry was fuming. "Who the fuck was that and why was he threatening you?" He realised that he had his fists clenched on top of the table and tried to relax them a bit.

Draco sighed and deflated a bit, "That was Connor Ash, he's a sixth year Slytherin." He sounded like he didn't want to share whatever else he was going to say but he went on anyway. "He was the one who hexed me that night that I ended up in the hospital wing a few weeks ago."

"What? But why? You guys are in the same house." Harry tried to process all of this information.

He let out a humourless laugh, "That doesn't mean shit anymore, Harry. His family are all Death Eaters. He spent a lot of time at the Manor over the holidays. He's pretty much figured out that I'm a traitor now and he's not too happy about it."

"You're a traitor to a disgusting regime. Trust me on this, Draco, that's not a bad thing." He received a soft smile in return and he reached over to squeeze Draco's hand then entwined their fingers together.

They sat like that for a little while before their food arrived and they were so hungry that neither of them spoke again until they were done.

"Before, when you were talking to Ash, you said that you loved me." Draco's voice wavered a little.

Harry swallowed. He'd completely forgotten about that. He knew that it was the truth but he hadn't meant to say it out loud, not yet anyway. He said nothing as he took a long sip of his Butterbeer.

Draco was eyeing him carefully, clearly expecting some kind of an answer, "Is it true?"

No sense in lying now I suppose. "Yes."

Draco looked shocked at first and looked like he was about to say something, but then he went quiet and Harry started to get worried. It's not that he expected Draco to say it back or even feel it back, but he was worried that he might scare the other man away. Too much, too soon and all that.

"Let's go back to the castle." He stated abruptly, still looking at Harry, though now he looked…determined?

Harry's heart dropped into his stomach. He hurriedly tried to salvage their date, ”But it's still early, we don't have to be back for a few hours yet."

He simply replied, "I know," as he stood up to collect their coats. Taking Harry's hand, he led them out of the pub and back up to the castle.

******

Draco was silent the whole way back and Harry was starting to panic. Is this the part where he dumps me? Will he ever talk to me again? Can we still be friends or will that be weird?

Before long they had made it back and Harry stopped to stand in the Entrance Hall thinking that Draco would be heading down to the Dungeons. After he breaks up with Harry, of course. But he wasn't, he was walking up the staircase.

Draco stopped and turned around, "Well, are you coming? Or are you just going to stand there all day like you've taken a Stupefy to the head?"

He let the insult slide, "What do you mean? Aren't you going to break up with me now? Where are you going?"

"Wait, you thought that I was going to break up with you?" He started making his way back down the staircase.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I said that I loved you and then you didn't say it back or whatever and I just thought…..” He trailed off.

Draco had reached the bottom of the stairs now and took Harry's face in his hands, piercing grey eyes looking straight into his green ones. "I'm so sorry that you thought that. I really am horrible at this. I'm not breaking up with you. We're going to Gryffindor Tower, you idiot." And he started walking up the stairs again, with Harry's hand in his.

Harry hurried to catch up, he was still so confused. "And why are we going to Gryffindor Tower?"

He stopped walking again and Harry almost tripped over a step. Suddenly, Harry found himself pushed up against the bannister and Draco was kissing him, and then breaking the kiss, ”Why on earth do you think, Harry?"

And then it hit him. "Oh. OH.” His eyes widened as he realised what Draco was getting at.

"Eloquent as always I see." He smirked, but it wasn't unkind.

"I-I-you know I've never done this before right?"

"Well aware, yes." Draco seemed completely unfazed.

"And neither have you."

"Correct." He had a look on his face as if asking what the hell Harry was getting at.

"But are you sure that you want to do this? With me?" He was a little worried that the answer might actually be no, but he felt like he should probably ask, just to make sure.

"Yes, I'm sure. Both that I want to do this and that I want to do it with you." Then he hurried to add, "But if you don't want to then, we don't have to, of course. If you don't want to."

"Draco, yes. Yes, I want to do this with you." He never got a chance to answer when Harry pulled him in again and pressed their lips together in a bruising kiss.

*****

They made it up to Gryffindor Tower in record time, earning some odd looks from the few younger students that were in the Common Room. They ignored them all and hurried up to the seventh year boys dorm which was, thankfully, deserted. It seems that everyone was still in Hogsmeade.

Draco stopped and looked around critically when they entered the room, "It's exactly as I pictured it would be." He drawled. "Red, red everywhere. I can't believe I'm in here voluntarily, it's actually offensive to look at." Admittedly, it was quite red.

"Oh come on, as if the Dungeons are any better. I bet your room is all decked out in Slytherin green."

"Of course not, the Slytherin dorms are very tastefully decorated, thank you very much.” He replied imperiously.

Harry let out a snort of laughter, "I'm sure they are. Now, shut up and get over here, you git." Harry had already sat down on his bed awkwardly, not really sure what to do at this point.

Draco slowly made his way over to where Harry was sitting on the bed and straddled his lap before leaning in to whisper in his ear, "You're about to take my virginity, Potter, maybe you should be a little bit nicer to me, hmm?"

He shivered at the feel of Draco's breath ghosting over his earlobe, "Only if you call me, Harry."

"Mmmm, I think I can manage that." He was sucking on a spot just below Harry's ear and starting to make his way down his neck with little bites and licks.

Harry let out the breath that he hadn't realised he'd been holding, "Merlin, you drive me mental."

Instead of answering, Draco just rolled his hips into Harry's and he noticed that they were both incredibly hard already. He made quick work of Draco's fitted grey trousers and worked his hand into his pants to release his fully erect cock which elicited a moan from the other man.

"Fuck." He moaned again as Harry began stroking him in earnest. Draco began removing the rest of their clothes and throwing them on the floor, seemingly not caring where they landed. Harry didn't care either. If it had been left up to him he would have just vanished them to save the time.

Draco pulled himself away and stood up to shuck off his trousers and pants. He was standing in front of him now, completely naked, with his thick cock jutting out in front of him. He had never seen anyone or anything more beautiful before in his life. Yeah, they'd been fooling around for a bit now but they hadn't seen each other completely naked before.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered.

His laugh sounded relieved, "I'm so glad you approve." Draco looked him up and down, "You're not so bad yourself, Harry. Though I do think that you're still a little overdressed for the occasion." He still managed to sound like a posh prat, even when he was standing there completely naked.

Taking the hint though, he took off his trousers and pants in one go and moved to lay back down on the bed. Suddenly, the nerves hit him all at once and he had no clue what to do next.

"What do you want?" Draco asked as if sensing this and crawling on top of him to straddle his hips again. He had no idea how Draco could be so confident right now. Their cocks glided together as he lowered himself over him and he couldn't hold back the groan that escaped him as he closed his eyes at the sensation.

"You. I want you. Inside of me. Please." He was so turned on right now and he wasn't above begging for what he wanted if he had to.

He opened his eyes when Draco didn't respond and saw him staring at him with his mouth open. He must have realised what he was doing because then he seemed to shake himself out of it, "Really? I always kind of thought that you might want to do it the other way."

"We can if you want but, no, I want you inside of me. I've been thinking about it for months. Even more so these last few weeks. I want your perfect, hard cock inside of me. I want you to fuck me, Draco. I want to feel you stretch me open with your thick cock." He was a little bit surprised at the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Fuck. Yes. I-yes." He leaned down and kissed Harry full on the lips before making his way down his body with teasing kisses. Stopping to suck on his nipples before continuing lower. By the time Draco finally reached his cock he was so hard, so desperate. Draco took his cock into his mouth without any further teasing so he guessed that he was just as turned on and eager right now. That just turned him on even more.

Draco stopped sucking him to grab his wand off of the floor and muttered the protection and lubrication charms before circling his rim with a single finger and then inserting it into him without any other warning. He gasped as he felt the finger penetrating him. Draco stilled his finger to let him adjust to the intrusion. It felt awkward at first but he soon adjusted and nodded to Draco to start moving it.

Pretty soon Draco added a second, slicked up finger and at the same time, sucked Harry's cock back into his mouth as a distraction. By the time he added a third finger, Harry was moaning shamelessly and he had a distant thought that maybe they should have cast locking and silencing charms before he completely forgot what he was thinking about when Draco took his mouth off of his cock and his fingers out of his now wet and stretched hole. He whined at the sudden emptiness.

"Do you think you're ready?" Harry could see the pure lust in the other man's hooded eyes and he nodded. "Thank Merlin, because if I have to listen to you moan like that any longer I think I'll come before I'm even inside of you."

He felt his face heat up with embarrassment, "Sorry," he mumbled shyly.

As Draco pushed Harry's legs up towards his chest and started to line himself up against his now leaking hole, he leaned in and whispered against his lips, "Don't be, I quite like that you're loud. And all because of me." He added with a pleased smirk before closing his eyes and kissing him roughly.

Harry gasped as Draco started to push into his still tight hole and he used the opportunity to slip his tongue into Harry's mouth. As their tongues slid against each other, Draco continued to push in further a little at a time before he was fully seated and he held himself still.

"Fuck."

"Does it hurt? Are- are you okay?" He could tell that Draco was shaking with the strain of holding himself still and appreciated him even more for the effort.

"Yeah, a bit, but-it's okay, just move." The intrusion was significantly larger than three fingers but he thought that he could get used to it.

Draco immediately started making small thrusts into him and set up a steady rhythm. "I'm not going to last." He panted.

Me either, he thought, though he couldn't manage the words out loud. All he managed to say was "harder" and "faster" to which Draco readily complied and started pounding into him with long, hard strokes.

"Merlin, you're so tight, you feel so good, Harry. So-fucking-good." He enunciated each word with a perfectly timed thrust. When Draco changed angles, he hit something inside of him that made Harry cry out.

"Fuck-Draco-yes-right there-again-harder." He reached down and wrapped a sweat-slicked hand around his leaking erection as he pushed back into Draco's thrusts, urging him in deeper. He started stroking himself in time with his thrusts but when Draco hit that spot inside of him again it was all over far too soon. He cried out Draco's name as he came harder than he ever had before in his life and his vision blurred as his come spilt over his hand and stomach and he clenched his arse hole around Draco’s still thrusting cock.

Barely a second later, Draco followed him, he could feel the warmth of his release filling him up as he continued to pump into him through his orgasm. When he was done, he collapsed on top of Harry and they both lay there for a while, sweaty and panting.

"That was…"

"Yeah…"

When Draco eventually moved to lay next to him, he cast a lazy cleaning charm over them both, closed the curtains of their four-poster bed, then pulled the blankets up over them.

"Let's sleep. Just….just for a little while." He managed to get out through a yawn while he moved to roll onto his side. He felt Draco move behind him and drape an arm around his waist before kissing the back of his neck. Harry shuffled back a little so that their bodies were perfectly aligned and pressed together.

He was just drifting off to sleep when he heard Draco say it, "I love you too, Harry. I think I always have." It was just a soft whisper, but he heard it. He placed his arm on top of Draco's so that he would know he'd been heard. He'd never felt this safe before. Or so loved.

*******

It was the middle of the night when he woke up again, to Draco stroking his cock nonetheless. He bit his bottom lip in an attempt to stop a moan from escaping, the other boys were probably all in bed by now too.

Draco must have realised that he was awake now because he leaned in and whispered into his ear in a low and seductive voice, "Baby, there's no need to be quiet, I've already cast a Muffliato around the bed. You can be as loud as you please, I'm going to make you feel so good that you're going to scream my name until you're hoarse." He started kissing a tantalising wet trail down the back of Harry's neck. Fuck.

Harry turned around so that he was facing Draco and raised a hand to the back of his head to pull him into a searing kiss, they opened their mouths immediately and Harry greedily sucked Draco's tongue into his mouth. Merlin, Draco definitely knew how to get him hard.

Draco moved the hand that he had around Harry's waist down to his arse and bought their hips together roughly as Harry moaned again, this time out loud.

"That's it, let me know how much you like it. Tell me how much you want me.” He demanded.

"Fuck, Draco." Draco moved his hand from Harry's arse and wrapped it around his now leaking cock again.

"Tell me. Tell me and you'll get a reward." Draco urged against his lips.

"I want you. Fuck, I want you so much. Draco, please."

"Mmm, very well. Since you've been such a good boy." Draco took his hand off of his cock and Harry immediately missed the contact of his hand, "Get on your hands and knees. Now."

He thought about arguing, purely for the sake of arguing but he was so fucking hard right now, Draco could tell him to jump off of the Astronomy Tower and he would do it. So he immediately moved to get on all fours.

As Draco moved to get behind him, he had never felt more exposed. He should probably feel embarrassed but in this moment, he really did not care. All he cared about was Draco touching him again.

"So good, you're so good, baby," Draco crooned as he started to kiss a line down Harry's back.

He was so turned on right now, he just wanted him to keep talking, saying these things to him, "Please….keep talking." Draco let out a huff of laughter.

"Mmmm, you want me to keep telling you how good you are for me? Mmm, you're so good, Harry. The way you moan for me." Draco continued with his ministrations, ”The way you take my thick cock in your tight little hole. The way you come for me."

"Draco, please. Please, fuck me."

"So impatient." Draco had reached the cleft of his arse now and Harry was waiting for him to cast the lube spell and insert a finger into his waiting hole. Instead, he kept moving his mouth lower until he could feel a breath ghosting over his exposed hole.

He was not expecting what happened next. Draco leaned in closer and licked a long, wet stripe over his hole. He let out a long moan and a lot of expletives.

"Yes, let me know how much you like it." He started to lick over his quivering hole again before moving his tongue in small circles. Harry was incredibly glad for the Silencing charms right now, he couldn't be quiet if he tried. Suddenly, he felt Draco's tongue dip into his arse hole and start stroking him from the inside.

"Fuck! Draco, fuck!" He felt him withdraw for a second only for his tongue to be replaced with a spit-slicked finger which was soon joined by a second. He wouldn't need much preparation as he was still fairly stretched open from earlier. After a third finger was added, he was getting desperate and started bucking back onto Draco’s fingers.

He heard Draco murmur the incantation for the lube spell behind him before he quickly filled him up with his cock. He pushed all the way in before leaning down and whispering into his ear in a lust roughened voice, "Tell me."

"I love the way your thick cock fills my filthy hole. I love how you fill me up. I love how you pound into me. How you fill me up with your hot come." He let out another long moan as Draco thrust into him again.

Draco grunted as he started relentlessly pounding into him and reached around to stroke his almost painfully hard cock. Harry batted his hand away so that he could stroke himself and the other man grabbed onto his hips for more leverage.

"You feel….so…fucking….good…Harry." He was panting hard now and they were both covered in sweat. He cried out louder when he felt Draco's cock brush against his prostate and came almost immediately. Draco kept pounding into his abused hole until he came soon after.

When Draco eventually pulled out, Harry missed the fullness and he could feel the warm come trickling down his inner thigh. He would never get enough of this.

They didn't even bother with a cleaning charm before they both fell asleep again in a mess of tangled limbs.

Chapter Eight

Harry was sitting peacefully at the Gryffindor table the next morning eating his breakfast when it happened. There had been a bit of chatter and staring when he and Draco had come down to breakfast together that morning but it hadn't been too bad. Not until the owls came.

The heavier than usual edition of The Daily Prophet startled him when it dropped in front of him with a heavy ‘thunk'. He was already resigned to seeing an outrageous headline about his sexuality, but he wasn't prepared for this.

"FUCK!"

"Shit, what does it say?" Ron asked, peering over his shoulder at the headline on the front page, just above a picture of him and Draco walking hand in hand down the main street of Hogsmeade.

"Shit." Was the only word that Ron had to offer.

The headline read: BOY WHO LIVED, HOODWINKED BY DEATH EATER DRACO MALFOY

He quickly scanned that article noting that someone, he didn't have trouble guessing who, had spoken to The Prophet and not only told them he was marked, but that he had fed Harry a love potion to trick him. Shit.

Throwing away the Prophet, he scanned the Slytherin table until he saw Draco, just in time to see the seemingly endless stream of Howlers that were now being dropped in front of him. Shit. Draco tried to destroy some of them but when they all started to smoke and scream their vitriol at him, he gave up and instead got up and fled the hall. Harry followed him out immediately.

"Draco! Draco, wait!" Harry pulled him down a corridor and into an alcove so they hopefully wouldn't be seen. "Are you alright?"

"Harry, they think that I dosed you with a love potion! So no, I most certainly am not alright!" He was seething, "And, for the record, I did not give you any love potions, or lust potions, or put you under the Imperius curse." He scowled as Harry started laughing, "Potter! This is not funny! Stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry, really, it's just that it's so stupid. I know that you didn't give me any potions and as for the Imperius curse, I've been able to throw that off since Fourth year.” He shuddered remembering their imposter professor.

"Nobody else is going to think that. They're all going to believe that bint Rita Skeeter and think that I've tricked you into loving me.” He was starting to sound frantic.

Harry stopped laughing and turned serious, "Why do you care what they think Draco? Those people don't mean anything to either of us. The only people who matter are our friends, and they all know the truth." He leaned his forehead against Draco's and circled his arms around his waist, "I love you and you love me. That's all that matters to me." He smiled as Draco angled his head and kissed him softly on the lips.

"My parents are going to be furious. I wish that I could see Fathers face when he sees The Prophet this morning." He withdrew a little, "I wish I could be there for my Mother though. I wish that I could have told her myself. I wish I could introduce you properly to her. I really think that she would like you." Harry doubted that.

"You can introduce me to her one day. You can take me to the Manor and we can all have tea together.” Merlin, that sounded dreadful.

"I'd like that." Draco sighed, "As much as I don't really want to, I told Blaise and Pans that I'd meet them back in the common room to fill them in on the rest of" he gestured between the two of them,"this and come up with a plan for how to deal with this mornings Prophet article"

"Alright, I'm going to go and hang out with Ron and Hermione. We'll probably end up in the Library if Hermione has her way, she's about losing it over revision for NEWTs. See you later?"

"Mmmm. Of course. I'll see you at lunch. We can sit at the Slytherin table."

"Is that a dare, Draco Malfoy?" He raised an eyebrow at the Slytherin.

"It might be." He gave Harry another quick kiss before walking away, leaving Harry grinning to himself alone in the alcove. He would never turn down a dare.

Chapter Text

Harry never made it to the library. When he went back to Gryffindor Tower to look for the others, they handed him a note that had been delivered for him after he'd left. It was from Dumbledore. He went to his office immediately and spent the entire day there listening to Dumbledore's updates and going over possible plans. He didn't even make it down to lunch, he had to send Draco a message with one of the House Elves. He felt horrible about it but there wasn't anything he could do.

When he was finally done with the Headmaster, he went straight down to the Dungeons under his invisibility cloak. He had the House Elf tell Draco to wait up for him when he realised that he was also going to miss dinner and Draco, in turn, had told the elf the password to the Slytherin common room. He quietly opened the door to the seventh year Slytherin dorm and peeked his head in, everyone seemed to be asleep except for Draco who was sitting up in his bed in green silk pyjamas, reading a book by wand light. He laughed to himself, of course the prat had green silk pyjamas.

Draco must have heard him enter because his head shot up and looked over in his direction. "Harry?" He whispered.

He took off his cloak and made his way over to the Slytherins bed, "Yeah, it's me.” He tried to smile but he evidently wasn't doing a very good job because Draco immediately seemed suspicious.

"What's wrong?" He put the book that he'd been reading, something about potions, down on his bedside table and leaned back against his headboard. Harry sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand, tracing small circles with his thumb.

"I need to tell you something." He felt Draco stiffen next to him. Okay, probably the wrong way to start a conversation between them. He looked up to see Grey eyes already staring right back at him. "It's not bad. I mean, it is, but it's not about us. We're fine." He shot him what he hoped was a comforting smile and leaned in to brush a kiss against his lips.

"It's about my meeting with Dumbledore. I've been meeting with him all year and there's some stuff that I need to tell you. It needs to stay between us though. Ron and Hermione know, of course, not all of it, but no one else can know. Okay?"

Draco just nodded.

He let out a breath before speaking again. "Do you know what Horcruxes are?"

Draco replied slowly, ”Of course I do, the Malfoy Family library has hundreds of books on dark magic. Father made me study them when I was a child."

Trying to ignore his surging hatred for the Malfoy patriarch, he continued, "Okay. Well, the thing is, Voldemort has Horcruxes. Had Horcruxes. He had seven of them." Draco looked rightfully horrified at this information but he was thankful that he didn’t need to explain them to him. "Dumbledore has been hunting them down since second year when I destroyed the first one and he realised what it was. He's since managed to destroy four more, and Snape has just killed the sixth one."

Draco gasped, "Professor Snape?"

"Oh, er, yeah, he was Dumbledore's spy. He changed sides at the end of the first Wizarding War. I'm not really sure why but Professor Dumbledore seems certain that he's definitely working for us.” Harry had had his objections when he first found out of course, but Dumbledore had been very firm in his trust of the other Professor.

"I should have known. He was always so good to me. Always tried to help me in subtle ways. I can see it now.” Draco looked like he was remembering something from the past.

"Well, unfortunately, the destruction of the sixth Horcrux alerted Voldemort to what Dumbledore was doing and he's furious. Snape's cover is blown too. Voldemort tortured him for hours, he's lucky to still be alive. From what Dumbledore said, you're Mother helped him escape." At the look of worry on Draco's face, he quickly added, "It's okay, she's okay, she wasn't caught as far as we know. But it's only a matter of time now before he comes. For me."

They were both silent for a moment before Draco spoke, "Wait, why is he coming for you? And you said that there were seven Horcruxes, but you only mentioned six of them being destroyed….." He trailed off.

Harry cleared his throat, he really had no idea how he was meant to say any of this. "He'll come after me because he knows that he's running out of time and he's still stuck on the idea that I'm the only one that can stop him. He wants to get it over with, killing me that is. As for the seventh Horcrux," he let out a heavy breath, "it's me." He felt Draco stop breathing next to him and looked up at him again, taking his free hand and placing it on the other man's jaw. "Draco, it's okay, breathe, it's okay."

He let out the breath that he had been holding and when he spoke his voice was barely above a whisper. "It's not okay, nothing is okay now."

"I wish that I could say that you're wrong." They sat in silence again, looking into each other's eyes as Harry stroked his thumb up and down over Draco's jaw. It was slightly rough with a little bit of stubble, it felt nice against his skin. What he wouldn't give just to stay here forever.

"Voldemort doesn't know that I'm a Horcrux. I wasn't intentionally made. It's imperative that he doesn't find out either. Who knows what he'll do if he does.” Harry didn’t even want to think about it to be honest.

"What's going to happen now?" He didn't sound like he really wanted to know the answer.

"We wait. We wait for him to come to Hogwarts. I go to him. And then we fight."

"You can’t.” Draco protested at once.

"I have to. I don't have a choice."

"You always have a choice, Harry.” His eyes were pleading.

"Not this time." It really wasn't a choice. "I need to go back to Gryffindor, I need to let Ron and Hermione know what's going on so they can be prepared."

Draco got up from the bed and changed into his black turtleneck and yet another pair of sinfully tight-fitting trousers that Harry loved, they made is arse look amazing. "I'm coming with you. We can spend the night in your dorm again if you want."

"Sure, I'd like that." He took Draco's hand in his as they left the Dungeons.

******

As soon as they entered Harry's dorm, Draco made his way over to Harry's bed and then turned around again, "When you're done talking with the Weasel and Granger, I'll be here." With that, he stepped in and drew the curtains around the four poster.

Harry ignored the nickname and went over to wake Ron up and get this over with. All he really wanted to do right now was curl up in his bed with Draco. And maybe stay there forever.

Ron and Hermione were horrified by what he had to tell them and he couldn't blame them. He was pretty horrified himself.

"Well, it does explain rather a lot, doesn't it? The dreams in fifth year, your scar hurting, the fact that you can speak Parseltongue." Of course Hermione was going to be logical about this. It was sort of comforting in a way though.

"Mmm, I guess it does. I wish it didn't though." Looking between his two friends, he decided to go ahead and ask what he’d been thinking about for most of the day, "I need to ask you guys a favour."

"Of course mate, anything," Ron replied. He probably shouldn't speak so soon.

He readied himself for what he was about to ask them, "If something happens to me, I mean if…well, you know, I die," Hermione paled at this and Ron looked down at the floor of the Common room. "I need you both to take care of Draco for me. I'm sure he can explain everything to you himself but he doesn't really have much of a family anymore and I just want to know that there will be someone there to take care of him. If he needs it."

"Harry…I don't really know how to say this, but I don't think we're really the best people to look out for him. We don't exactly have the best history." Ron replied slowly.

"I trust you to put that behind you. Please, I'll get down on my knees and beg if I have to, I just want to know that there will be someone there for him if…" he couldn't finish his sentence and instead put his face in his hands.

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder and he looked up, it was Ron, "We'll do it. It will be fine. Just do what you need to do and we'll all be here for you when it's over."

"You're not even going to try and stop me." He had half expected it to be honest.

"Would it do any good when you've already made up your mind?" Asked Hermione.

"I guess not." They really knew him far too well. He clapped a hand over his mouth to cover his yawn and then went to get up, "I need to get back to Draco, I'll see you guys in the morning. Thanks for everything, really." He hugged Hermione goodnight and clapped Ron on the shoulder before heading back up to his dorm.

When he opened his bed curtains, he saw Draco lying on his back in nothing but his pants, staring blankly up at the ceiling. "How'd it go, did they try and talk you out of being an idiot?"

"No, they said it would be useless if I'd already made up my mind." He shed all of his clothes and then climbed into the bed to lay beside Draco. As an afterthought, he put up a silencing charm around them after he had closed the curtains again.

Draco was silent, "Are you okay?"

He laughed, but it was empty. There was no real laughter behind it. They lapsed into silence.

Harry was almost asleep when Draco spoke again. "Harry?" He whispered quietly.

"Mmmm?"

"Hold me."

Harry stretched out his arm and pulled him in closer as Draco curled up into his arms. He kissed the top of the head that was tucked under his chin and pulled the man closer. He could feel Draco shaking in his arms but he decided not to say anything. There really wasn't anything he could say at this point. Instead, he just held him closer, held him tighter, and they eventually drifted off to sleep.

*******

Harry startled awake when his bed curtains were flung open and he quickly made sure that he and Draco were covered with their blankets. There was a huge commotion in the dorm which he hadn't heard before due to the two way silencing charm that they had cast on the curtains the night before. "What the hell?"

"Harry, quick, get up." Ron yelled at him, "They're coming, Voldemort and the Death Eaters."

"What? How do you know? How far away are they?" He quickly shoved his glasses on his face before reaching for his wand under his pillow and started to shake Draco awake. He leant down and whispered into his ear as he gently shook his shoulder, "Draco," the other man just moaned sleepily.

He looked back up to Ron who was still hovering by his bedside, "How do you know? Where are they now?"

"The teachers have been going through the castle waking everyone up. Apparently, they've just reached Hogsmeade. It's bad. This is bad. Look, I've gotta go, I need to find Hermione. Meet you in the Great Hall, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay. Just let us get dressed, we'll be right down." Ron grimaced as if he'd just realised that Harry and Draco were both naked under the blankets but said nothing before turning and running out of the room. He tried to rouse Draco again. Merlin, he was a heavy sleeper. "Draco, you have to wake up."

"‘M tired," he mumbled into the pillow. In any other situation, he would have stopped to marvel at how cute he was but now was not the time. He felt his heart clench painfully in his chest as he realised that he might never have the time.

"Draco, wake up, the Death Eaters are on their way." With that information, he sat up like a shot.

"WHAT?!"

"They're coming. We have to get dressed and go down to the Great Hall with the others." They were the only ones left in the dorm room now so they didn't bother with modesty as they both scrambled out of the bed in search of their clothes.

"Do you know anything else?" He could tell that Draco was doing his best not to sound worried but he could hear the slight waver in his usually steady voice.

"Only that they've reached Hogsmeade so we don't have very long before they get here. Dumbledore was right, he didn't waste any time." Merlin, but he wished he could have had more time. But maybe it was for the best that it was happening so soon. Less time to mourn what he might never be able to have.

They were ready in record time and quickly made their way down to the Great Hall, hand in hand. There was hardly anyone else in the corridors so most people must already be down there.

*******

As soon as they entered through the double doors, Harry started looking around for the others. It was chaos. He turned to Draco and had to almost yell into his ear to be heard over the noise. "I need to find Ron and Hermione. Do you want to go and look for Blaise and Parkinson?"

Draco shook his head and tightened his grip on his hand, "No, they'll be fine. I'm coming with you." He was kind of hoping for that.

They made their way through all of the people and found the others sitting at the Gryffindor table and sat down next to them. Hermione threw her arms around Harry as soon as she saw them.

"Harry!"

"Have you heard anything else yet?" He asked her as they parted.

"No, bu-" before she could finish, Dumbledore had stood up at the front of the hall and called for everyone's attention.

"Attention students!" It was so loud that he had evidently cast a Sonorous on his voice. "As you are now all aware, a battle is upon us. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are approaching and we do not have much time." Harry was looking around at the other students now. A great many of them looked fierce and determined, but there was still fear in all of their eyes. Some of the younger students where crying.

He turned his attention back to Dumbledore, "As we have no time for a proper evacuation, all students who are not yet of age, and anyone who does not wish to fight, will be removed to the dungeons as we have deemed this the safest place for the time being. Please take a few minutes to organise yourselves and then if you would please, follow Professor Snape down to the dungeons where he will secure you."

The Great Hall erupted into noise once again as the lower years started saying tearful goodbyes to their friends and classmates before following Snape out of the hall. Almost everyone who was of age had stayed behind. He watched as Blaise and Parkinson left the hall with the younger students.

Draco noticed him watching and leant in to whisper in his ear, "Their parents are Death Eaters. They don't want to fight with the Dark Lord, but they also don't want to fight against their parents." That seemed fair enough. He wasn't sure what he would have done if he were in their situation so he reserved his judgement.

"Now, if all of you who are remaining could please refer to your heads of house for further instructions and prepare for the fight ahead. And remember," he spoke quieter now, "never lose hope, as it can be found even in the darkest of places." With that, Dumbledore cancelled his sonorous before stepping down to speak with someone the Professors.

Harry turned to Draco, "I have to go. I need to end this before it goes too far. I'm the one that he wants. If I hand myself over, then maybe I can stop this quickly."

Draco looked furious. He stood up and dragged him into the antechamber off of the Great Hall before rounding on him.

"You can't do this, Harry. You can’t." Harry hate to see him like this. He wished that they could have parted ways easily.

"Draco, I have to. I have to be the one to defeat Voldemort. I'm the only one who can do it."

“No." Draco replied resolutely.

"I have to. If I don't…he'll kill everyone. He'll kill you. I can't be responsible for that when I have a chance at stopping him. Even if I…." He couldn't say it. But by the way Draco's face paled, he didn't need to.

"I need you to stay. I don't give a shit about anyone else. I don't even care what happens to me,” he gestured to himself, “I just need you to stay."

"You know that I can’t." He really didn’t want to argue with him right now.

"You just don't get it? DO YOU?!" He was shouting now. "You don't, for one second, stop to think about how this will affect me. You care about everyone else in this world more than you care about me! I. CAN'T. DO. THIS!" His arms were flailing wildly as he spoke. He was clearly scared, he had none of his usual composure, though Harry couldn't blame him for that. He was also clearly furious.

"Draco, what the hell are you talking about? That's not true and you know it!" He was trying not to raise his voice but he was getting frustrated now.

"Wha-? Potter, you are willing to go out there and die for everyone! Do you not see it? Do you really not understand what you're doing? You and your fucking saviour complex!"

He was really mad if he was calling him ‘Potter' now. "Well, maybe if you would just tell me, then I would know."

"You are willing to die for everyone, EVERYONE! But why can't you live for me?" His voice was breaking now and Harry could see the tears that he was struggling but failing to hide. "Why can't you live for me?" His knees buckled beneath him and he began openly sobbing.

Harry hesitated for just a second, he wasn't sure if Draco would let him touch him when he was so obviously upset with him, but after that second he decided he didn't even care. He knelt down in front of him and pulled Draco on to his lap. Draco curled around him, burying his face in Harry's neck and continued to sob.

"Draco…shhh…." He tried to soothe him by rubbing gentle circles on his lower back. And brushing soft kisses against his forehead. "Draco it's going to be okay. It's going to be fine. Shhh."

"No…no, it's not. Don't you see?" He looked up at him now with swimming grey eyes. "I don't care if this sounds selfish, I really don't, I'm a selfish fucking person. I can't live without you. Even when I thought that I hated you, I couldn't live without you in my life. We're connected, Harry. You can't leave me like this. I'll never forgive you. I won't lose you." Harry furiously blinked back his tears. He just had to not think about it.

He moved to push Draco off of him and help him get up. "Draco, I need to go. I need to face him. It has to be now and it has to be me, you know that. But you need to understand a few things first. I am not doing this because I want to leave you. I love you with everything that I have. You are everything to me and when this is over, I never want to leave your side ever again. I want to have a life with you. I want to carry your children for fuck's sake. I want a family, with you. I want everything and I would never give it up without a fight. You need to remember that, okay?" Draco was just staring at him now, completely still. "Okay?" He tried again as he held Draco's face in his hands while trying to wipe away his tears.

"Potter, that was probably the most eloquent thing that you have ever managed to say out loud. But why does this sound like a goodbye? I forbid you from saying goodbye to me." His voice was breaking and he sniffed as he spoke, completely lacking his usual drawl. He sounded so vulnerable in this moment.

"It's just for a moment. I will come back to you". Merlin, he hoped that Draco would forgive him for this one day. He probably wouldn't, the prat could hold a grudge like no other but one could only hope, right?

"You can't ju-mmphf!" Harry kissed him before he could get the rest of his sentence out. If he kept talking he would never leave, he would always find another excuse not to leave. But he had to, because even though he loved Draco more than anything, there where still others that needed saving and he couldn't let them down.

All of a sudden, Draco broke the kiss and pushed him away. "I have an idea. It's….stupid. Really stupid actually."

"Well, we all know that I'm a huge fan of stupid ideas. I've had many of them myself." Harry tried to lighten the situation a little.

"That goes without saying." Draco now had his usual posh drawl back, "Anyway, there's a spell, it sort of links us together. A bond. If you….die, I'll feel it. I'll be able to feel your life force running through me, if it stops, I'll know." There was an intensity in Draco's gaze.

"Do you know how to do it?" He would do anything if it made Draco feel better about what was about to happen.

"Yes, but someone else will need to do it for us. I can teach Granger the spell if she'll consent to performing it." Harry went to draw his wand to send his Patronus to Hermione but Draco grabbed his wrist. "Wait. I need to tell you something first." Harry waited. "The spell, the bonding spell, it's usually used when people get, er, married. Essentially, it's a marriage spell." Draco averted his eyes and looked down at the stone floor.

"Draco, are you proposing to me?" He felt the smile stretch wide across his face.

"It's a stupid idea." The other man mumbled and made to move away.

Harry pulled him in closer again, "No, it's really not." He raised his wand again and sent his Patronus to Hermione.

********

Hermione showed up in no time, apparently because she ran there going by how out of breath she was. She closed the door behind her and came to sit down at the table across from them.

Harry went ahead without preamble, “Hermione, we need to ask you a favour."

"Is it the same one that you asked of us last night?" She looked at Draco a little warily.

He shot a glance at Draco and saw him giving him a questioning look. "Er, no, it's not. Look, we need you to perform a spell for us, it has to be cast on both of us and we can't do it ourselves. Draco can teach you the incantation and everything."

"Oh, well sure. What is it?" Of course, she was excited to learn something new, even with the impending battle upon them.

Draco sat up straighter and cleared his throat, "It's a bonding spell. It's typically used at Pureblood weddings to bond the Bride and Groom together. It will allow us to feel each other's life force. That way….if one of us dies, we'll know immediately." He was looking at the table as he finished speaking and tracing a grain of wood absentmindedly with his forefinger.

Hermione was looking between them with her mouth slightly agape, "But…you do realise that those kinds of bonds can't be broken, right? Are you really sure that you want to do this?" She was looking directly at Harry now.

"Yes. Draco's already explained it to me." He reached out and took Draco's hand and rubbed his thumb over the soft skin. "It's important to us, and it's what we both want. We won't change our minds."

She still looked a little hesitant but Harry knew that she would do it. And he was right. Hermione sighed, "Okay, fine, I'll do it. Just show me what I need to do."

Naturally, Hermione was a quick study and had the spell down pat in about ten minutes. They were actually doing this, getting married. Harry couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the thought that they were about to be Husbands. He knew it was bad timing, but he didn't really care at this point, he was about to be bonded to Draco for the rest of his life, however short or long that may be.

"Alright, are you both ready?" Harry and Draco nodded. They stood up to face each other and grasped each other's hands. He was relieved that Draco apparently couldn't help but smile either, though he was clearly trying to hide it.

Hermione was about to start when she lowered her wand again, "Do you both want to say a few words to each other? Like vows of some sort before I begin?"

Looking at each other, they realised that they hadn't even thought about that part. Harry turned to look at Hermione and spoke first, "Yeah, I'd like that. I mean, I obviously haven't prepared anything, but I'd like to." He looked back at Draco to see him give him a small smile in agreement.

"Do you want to go first, Harry?” She asked.

Merlin, what the hell was he going to say? "Er, yeah, sure." He bought his eyes up from where they were resting on their entwined hands to look into Draco's sparkling grey eyes and immediately, he knew what to say.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy. I could stand here all day and tell you about every little thing that I love about you. And everything that annoys me about you, although, that might take a lifetime." That earned him a laugh from both Draco and Hermione, "So I'm just going to say this," he took a step closer and reached up a hand to cup Draco's jaw, "I love you. And because I love you, I will never stop fighting for you, I will never stop fighting to be there for you. No matter what happens, I will always be by your side. I will never leave you."

He could hear Hermione sniffling in the background but he couldn't take his eyes off of Draco, he was so damn beautiful. He was everything.

"Harry James Potter. I don't know what I ever did to deserve you in my life, it certainly wasn't something that I did in this lifetime at least." He huffed a laugh and Harry smiled and leaned up to brush his lips against his forehead before pulling back again. "I will do everything that I possibly can to keep you safe and that is a promise that I will never break." And then, echoing Harry's words, "I love you too, and no matter what happens, I will always be by your side. I will never leave you."

They stood together, still gazing into each other's eyes as Hermione began to cast the spell around them. This was definitely one of the best decisions he had ever made. Probably the best actually. When Hermione eventually finished the spell, he could feel it. The thrumming through his veins that was Draco's life force. It was pure, it was strong, and it was beautiful. He felt whole.

He could tell just from looking at Draco that he could feel it too, there was wonder in his eyes as he spoke, "Harry…."

"Draco."

Hermione must have sensed the tension between them because Harry heard her move about over by the door before she opened it and left through it.

As soon as he heard the door click behind her their lips came together in a searing kiss which was both more passionate and messier than any other kiss they had shared so far. It deepened quickly when Harry licked at Draco's bottom lip seeking entrance and then found himself slammed up against the stone wall with Draco's entire body pressed against his. They both put everything into the kiss. All of their desperation, their fear, their anger. It was the love that they didn't need to voice. It was a promise. It was everything and he was drowning. One of them moaned but he wasn't entirely sure who. Maybe it was both of them.

They pulled apart, panting, both needing to breathe. Draco's hands were tangled in Harry's hair and Harry had his hands around his waist, holding him close. "I have to go".

Draco nodded and withdrew his hands from Harry's hair as Harry dropped his hands from the other man's waist. Draco took one last look at him as if committing him to memory, and slowly turned away to face the window and look out at the approaching storm that was the advancing Death Eaters. "I can't watch you leave". His voice broke and he was visibly shaking.

He understood. Harry was about to open the door when Draco's voice stopped him but he couldn't turn around, just as Draco couldn't in that moment. "Scared, Potter?" It was barely above a whisper.

Harry couldn't help but smile, "You. Wish."

*********

Draco's shoulders slumped and he steadied himself against the windowsill as he heard the door open and then close as Harry walked out of it. He knew that they would never see each other again. He wanted to give up and stay here until the fight was over. He wanted to disappear and not have to deal with anything. But he couldn't. He had to fight. If Harry was willing to sacrifice everything, then so would he. He turned and walked out of the room, heading for the courtyard where everyone was gathering in wait and preparing. He would do this for Harry, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

*****

He was duelling Dolohov when he felt it, or rather when he felt the absence of it. But he had to keep fighting. He had already incapacitated several other Death Eaters in the last few hours, but not killed them, he didn't have it in him. He just severely maimed them instead. He was starting to tire and wasn't sure how much longer he could hold Dolohov off.

Draco aimed a particularly nasty Hex that missed by mere millimetres. "Impressive, young Malfoy. You know, you would have been a particularly good Death Eater if you hadn't run off with that filthy Halfblood of yours,” Dolohov snarled.

"How. Dare you." He shouted and sent another Hex towards him, this time hitting his target and Dolohov crumpled to the ground. At that same moment, everything seemed to go quiet. Most of the fighting ceased and people began to turn around and look towards the front gates.

There was a procession of people coming towards them from the Forbidden Forest. He spotted the silver hair of his parents amongst them with Voldemort leading the way but what really caught his eye was Hagrid. He could hear the Half-Giant sobbing loudly but couldn't make out his words. He was carrying something in his arms…..or, perhaps, someone? No. No, it couldn't be. He knew that the bond had been broken, but he still didn't want to believe it.

As they reached the courtyard though, he realised that it was. Voldemort started speaking but he wasn't listening to a word of it, instead, he was focused on the limp body with the mop of black hair that was resting in Hagrid's burly arms. The air left his lungs, his heart stopped beating, he froze as if someone had stunned him. No. No. No.

Words started leaving his mouth but he was only vaguely aware of what they were. Was only vaguely aware of arms trying to restrain him as he fought them off and held his wand aloft and started moving forward.

No.

This wasn't happening.

He was supposed to be The Boy Who Lived.

********

Voldemort ordered Hagrid to carry Harry's seemingly lifeless body out of the Forbidden Forest. Harry could feel Hagrid's whole body shuddering with grief and wanted nothing more than to comfort him but knew that he could not risk revealing himself.

Voldemort had hit him with the killing curse. But for some reason, he lived, again. The Horcrux was gone, that he knew, he could feel it's absence. He felt lighter, freer. But with the absence of the Horcrux, there was also the absence of the bond that he shared with Draco and he wasn't sure if it was because he had been hit with the Killing Curse or because….no. No.

When he had come to, he tried to keep impossibly still. He still had his wand but he knew that he needed to wait.

Voldemort had sent Narcissa Malfoy to check on him, to make sure that he was dead. And she had lied.

When they finally reached the courtyard, everything was silent before Voldemort started to talk and boast about having finally murdered him. But he knew the moment that Draco saw him. He could hear his screams, his cries, his desperate pleas to no one in particular…."Please, no, no, no, please, not Harry, not my Harry….no, no, no….please…" he was begging between heart-wrenching sobs.

And it killed him to hear it. But in that moment Harry knew, that when this was over, he would never leave that mans side again. Ever.

Harry was bought back to the situation at hand when he heard Draco start shouting.

"HOW DARE YOU?! HOW DARE YOU?! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU NOSELESS BASTARD!" He could hear Draco approaching.

“There will be no more from you, you filthy blood traitor!" Voldemort spat before sending a Knockback jinx towards Draco.

Realising that it was time, Harry leapt out of Hagrid's arms, wand in hand, and faced Voldemort. A ripple of shock went through the crowd.

"Harry…." Draco whispered.

"Harry", he whispered again, getting up from where he had landed on the ground and moving to face him, resting a cool hand on Harry's face and looking him in the eye with a stunned expression on his face, as if afraid that he wasn't really there. And then, all of a sudden, he looked murderous and his hand fell. "How dare you make me think that you were dead! How dare you!" He was fuming.

Harry had to fight his smile. Still Draco then. Still his Draco.

"Well, well, well, how touching." They both turned to look at Voldemort now who was still standing a few metres away from them. "Even though you betrayed me, I still didn't believe that a Malfoy would ever lower themselves to associating with a Halfblood. It's a slippery slope Draco, next thing you know, you'll be befriending Mudbloods and Muggles". The Death Eaters all laughed as if this was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

Voldemort turned to his side where Lucius and Narcissa were standing. "Lucius, you really have failed with this one, haven't you? Filthy little blood traitor. Perhaps you should teach him a lesson, teach him some respect?"

Lucius Malfoy was shaking and looking at the ground when he answered. "Yes. Yes, my Lord." He looked like he had paid the price for Draco's betrayal over the last few months and standing next to him, Narcissa certainly looked no better.

Before Lucius could even lift his wand in Draco's direction, however, Harry had moved to stand in front of Draco, disarmed Lucius, and raised his wand towards Voldemort. "You'll have to kill me first, I'll never let you hurt him."

"Well, that will certainly be arranged, Potter. I don't know how you managed to survive a second time, but let me assure you, it will not happen again, I will make sure of it."

They both cast at the same time and their spells met in the middle in a blinding ball of light. He hardly noticed the fighting resume around him or Narcissa Malfoy grabbing a hold of Draco and pulling him away from the spells that were flying all around him.

Harry was sweating and panting and trying so hard not to let that ball of light come any closer towards him. He somehow knew that if it did then that would be the end. It would all be over for him. It was also in that moment that he heard his parents' distant voices.

"Harry."

"D-Dad? Mum?" He's was struggling with the effort to hold his wand steady.

"Yes, Harry, we're here. You have to fight. You can't let go, use your strength."

"But I can't, I'm not strong enough. I'm so tired." And he really was. He just wanted it to be over.

“Focus, dear. Find your strength.”

He knew what he had to do. He closed his eyes and focused all of his remaining energy on one thing, Draco. He thought about the way his hair fell over his face sometimes, the small smiles that he gave that were only for Harry. He thought about how soft his hands were and how his lips felt, pressed against his, the sound of his laughter. And he thought about their future together. About the house that they would share, the children that they would have, the grandchildren. He thought about the many decades they had ahead of them.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed that the ball of light had started to move towards Voldemort. He used all of his remaining energy to push it further until it met its target. He fell to his knees at the same moment that Voldemort dropped to the ground in a heap. He knew it was over.

Finally.

********

As the dust began to settle and the people around him began to pick up the pieces he could only think of one thing, finding Draco. He didn’t have to look very far before he heard him.

"POTTER!" Harry knew he was in trouble, but he really didn't care. He spun around to see Draco storming towards him while his Mother looked on, apparently amused. He looked just as exhausted as Harry felt too. He had a smudge of dirt along his right cheek, his clothes were ripped in multiple places, and his hair was as dishevelled as he'd ever seen it before. But he still managed to look gorgeous. Harry was sure that he himself looked like a wreck right now.

"POTTER!"

"Nice to see you too, Draco." He smiled at him but he knew that it wouldn't do him any favours.

"Oh, don't you dare, Potter! You piece. Of. Shit." He enunciated each word with a stab to Harry's chest. "How dare you do that to me?! How could you?" his voice was breaking and tears started to stream down his face. "I thou- thought you were d-dead" he choked out, "You were dead! I know you were because that's the only possible way that the bond could have been broken. So, what the fuck, Potter?" Draco was giving him a somewhat frightening glare now.

Harry stepped forward to cup Draco's face in his hands, wiping away his tears as he did so and looked into his shining grey eyes. "I will never leave you Draco, never again. And that is a promise that I will keep". With that, Draco fisted his shirt and pulled him forward, crashing their lips together. It was wet, it was messy, it was full of everything that they felt for each other, desperation, longing, desire and the relief that this was now over. As the kiss continued to deepen, the rest of the world melted away entirely and it was just them, just the two of them, just Draco and Harry.

The End.

Chapter Text

June 5th 1999

It had been over a year now since the Second Wizarding War had been fought and life was finally starting to become somewhat normal. Or as normal as Harry had ever known anyway. All of the trials were over, the memorials, the medal ceremonies. He felt like he could finally move on with his life as the Wizarding World started to rebuild around him.

When it had come time for them to leave Hogwarts the previous year Harry made the easy decision to ask Draco to come and live with him at Grimmauld Place. He was thrilled when Draco said yes straight away but a little less thrilled when Narcissa Malfoy also moved in with them. She had paid a very severe price at the hands of Voldemort and the other Death Eaters for Draco's betrayal and was very hesitant to ever return to the Manor. He really couldn't say no to her.

It was awkward at first, having his future Mother-in-law living in the house with them (they had become officially engaged before they even left Hogwarts) but Grimmauld Place was plenty big enough for the three of them and as it turned out, they got along pretty well.

As they started to renovate the musty old house and turn it into a home, he actually found himself warming to the Malfoy Matriarch quite a lot. He had always thought of her as a cold and severe type of woman but the opposite turned out to be true.

She was incredibly kind and loving in her own way and left him with no doubt about the love that she held for Draco. What did surprise Harry though was her easy acceptance of him and of his and Draco's relationship. Draco had been outraged to learn that she had had suspicions about his sexuality and his crush on Harry as far back as third year.

She treated Harry as if he were her own son and he had never felt more like a part of a family before. He loved the Weasley's of course, but this was different. He felt like he belonged with the two Malfoy’s.

As for Lucius, well, he was serving several life sentences in Azkaban for his many war crimes. He had tried to plead Imperius again but no one was buying it this time around.

After deciding that he most definitely did not want to join the Aurors, Harry had spent quite a lot of time trying to think about what he wanted to do with himself. He knew that he wanted to help people, he just didn't know how. Draco had enrolled in Healer training and suggested that maybe Harry try that as well but he didn't think that he could go in, day after day, and be around people who were sick and in pain.

He had been sitting in front of the fire with Narcissa one evening when she saw fit to make a suggestion, which was that maybe he could open an orphanage for Wizarding children who had lost their parents during the war.

It was perfect and he couldn't believe that he had never thought of it before, especially with Teddy around. After discussing it with Draco and getting his support, he quickly started to set his plans in motion. Finding a location, getting Ministry grants and funding, there was an awful lot to organise to set up an orphanage apparently.

But now he was here. Sitting in his kitchen at Grimmauld Place with an worryingly speechless Hermione.

"Harry….I-are you sure? I mean I know that it's possible but have you been to see a Healer? Are you absolutely certain?" He was relieved to find that she could still speak after being silent for so long.

"Yup. As sure as I am that I've been throwing up every morning for the last few weeks. I went to St Mungo's to see a Healer a few days ago. She said that I'm roughly two months along." He smiled at the memory of being in the Healers office and receiving the news as he placed a hand over his slightly swollen stomach.

"Have you told Draco yet?" Harry grimaced and took a sip of his tea to give himself something to do.

"Of course not! I told you, you're the first person that I've told." He saw Hermione roll her eyes at him.

"‘Of course not?' Oh, Harry," she shook her head disapprovingly, "He has the right to know, you have to tell him. He is the other Father after all."

"I know I do it's just….what if he's angry? Or what if it makes him unhappy? It's not like we'd planned this. We've talked about having kids, sure, but we were going to wait. We wanted to have a proper bonding ceremony first. Plus Draco's still in Healer training and I'm still trying to set up the orphanage." He tried desperately to think of more valid excuses but really, he was just worried about how Draco would react.

"Harry," she looked at him quizzically, "are you not happy about this?" She reached over and put her hand over his on the table.

"Of course I'm happy! I've always wanted a family, and with Draco. I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon," he bit his lip in thought, "It's kind of scary," he mumbled.

Hermione laughed, "Of course it's scary. You're carrying a child, you're going to give birth to a child, and be responsible for that child for the rest of its life."

"Funnily enough, that really doesn't make me feel better Hermione." He said under his breath.

She sighed, "I'm just trying to say that it's okay to be scared because it is scary." She was quiet for a moment. "So are you going to tell him tonight then?"

"It's his birthday, I don't want to risk ruining it." He heard Kreacher opening the door downstairs to let more guests in for Draco's birthday party, "And all the guests are arriving, I can't tell him tonight."

"I don't think that it will ruin his birthday for him, Harry. But fine, have it your way, just make sure that you do it soon." She gave him a stern look before getting up to take her empty cup over to the sink and make her way back to the party in the living room.

He knew that he had to tell Draco, but how? He groaned and banged his head down on the table.

*****

When Harry finally made it back up to the living room it was to find it significantly fuller than it was when he had gone down to the kitchen with Hermione half an hour ago. Ron and Hermione had been there since the afternoon to help Harry get everything set up for the party but there were now quite a few more Weasley's in the room along with, Blaise, Dean, Seamus, and Pansy (he'd stopped calling her ‘Parkinson' a few months ago when they had come to a surprisingly peaceful truce).

He did a quick scan of the room for Draco but he couldn't see him anywhere. He did happen to notice Narcissa and Mrs Weasley though, sitting on the chaise lounge speaking amicably together. That really was one friendship that he never saw coming. The look on Draco's face the first time he saw the two of them getting along had been comical.

After making his way around the room and greeting all of their guests he finally managed to sneak away to look for Draco. Hermione was right, he needed to tell him, birthday or not. It didn't take him very long before he found him out in the garden, looking up at the clear night sky. He did that a lot, it helped to calm him when things were getting too much for him.

"There you are, I’ve been looking for you," he came up behind Draco and wrapped his arms around his waist as he pressed a light kiss to his cheek and rested his head on his shoulder. He felt Draco relax into him and let out a contented sigh.

He was about to open his mouth again but before he could speak Draco spun around in his arms to face him and bought his arms up around Harry's shoulders, resting their heads together.

"How are you feeling? I noticed that you were throwing up again this morning, Is it still that awful stomach flu? Maybe you should go to see a Healer tomorrow." Draco's breath washed over Harry's face as he spoke and he breathed it in.

Harry let out a laugh, "It's not the stomach flu," he closed his eyes and brushed his lips softly against Draco's. Come on, out with it, Harry, you're a big brave Gryffindor.

"Draco, I need to tell you something," Draco pulled back a little and looked at him with concern on his face.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright?" He really should know better than to start a sentence like that by now, it always seemed to make Draco nervous.

"Yes! Yes, I mean, everything's fine, it's just, well, Draco, I'm-Draco, I'm pregnant." It came out all in a rush.

Draco froze and his grey eyes were wide with shock and the grip that he had on Harry's upper arm was starting to hurt.

"Draco….say something. Please," Harry was really panicking now.

"Y-you're pregnant? W-with my child?" It was odd to hear Draco stammer like that.

Harry laughed, worry temporarily forgotten, "Draco, of course it's yours! And yes, I'm pregnant. I saw a Healer a few days ago and she said that I'm about two months along. I don't have the stomach flu, it's morning sickness."

Draco had once again gone silent and his mouth was slightly agape. Harry felt the panic set in again and he tried to ignore the sick feeling that was settling in his stomach.

"You're….."

"Pregnant. Yes." He was getting a bit impatient now.

Tears started to gently fall from the corners of Draco's eyes but before Harry could say anything more or try to wipe them away, Draco leaned back in, tilted his head down and pressed their lips together.

Their kiss was sweet and affectionate, unhurried, and slightly salty from Draco's tears. All too soon, Draco broke the kiss and took a step back before looking down and placing a hesitant hand on Harry's slightly protruding stomach. Draco looked back up again with what looked like wonder in his eyes as he looked at Harry. He was shaking and the tears were still quietly falling down his face.

Just then the door to the back garden flew open and startled them both, it was Ron. Draco quickly removed his hand from Harry's stomach.

"Oi, Ferret, Narcissa's looking for you inside. She said she wants to talk to you about some new curtains or something." When he had finished talking, Ron seemed to sense that something was wrong when Draco didn't retaliate at the use of his unofficial nickname.

"Er, is everything okay?" He was looking worriedly between the two of them.

At that moment, Draco seemed to snap out of his shocked silence, "It's fine, Weasel," he sneered, but it was missing any real cruelty, "We're done out here anyway."

Draco grabbed a hold of Harry's slightly sweaty hand and dragged him inside, back into the living room without saying another word.

******

They had been back inside for about twenty minutes now and Draco was still in the corner of the room speaking to his Mother with what everyone else would probably think is his usual composure, but Harry could tell that he was still a bit shaken.

Harry had managed to find a spot on the sofa where he could watch Draco without looking too obvious.

"So did you tell him?" Hermione asked him in a hushed whisper from where she had settled herself down next to him on the sofa.

Harry just hummed under his breath. Hermione obviously took this for the affirmation that it was.

"And…..?"

"I don't know. He didn't even say anything. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open. And then he started crying. He never cries 'Mione, never. And then he kissed me. What if I broke him?" He groaned at the realisation and sank further into the couch.

"He's probably just in shock. Like you said before, it wasn't exactly planned, how do you think you would react if Draco told you that he was pregnant." He didn't answer her, instead, he just kept watching Draco from under his fringe. She did have a point though.

"You know though, pregnancy really seems to suit you, Harry, you're-" She never did finish that sentence.

"HARRY'S PREGNANT?!" Ron yelled from behind them as his plate of food fell to the ground with a crash.

The whole room had gone quiet instantly and everyone was looking at Harry and Draco. It only lasted a second though before everyone started yelling and offering their congratulations. Mrs Weasley pulled him into a tearful hug which he thought he might just suffocate from.

When he managed to break free of Mrs Weasley, he quickly made his way over to where Draco was still standing with Narcissa in the corner of the living room.

Narcissa was beaming at him when he approached and pulled him into a rare hug.

"Harry, I'm so happy to hear that you are carrying my grandchild." She whispered into his ear before releasing him.

"Thank you, Narcissa. Um, I don't mean to be rude, but can I just borrow Draco for a minute, I need to talk to him." He glanced quickly at Draco who was standing quietly beside her.

"Of course, dear. I'll try to distract everyone else until you come back," she offered.

"Thank you." He gave her a quick smile before grabbing Draco's hand and Apparating them to their bedroom a few floors up. The peace and quiet was welcoming after all of the commotion downstairs.

He dropped Draco's hand as he went to sit down on the ridiculously large four-poster bed that Draco had insisted they buy and dropped his head into his hands.

He felt the bed dip next to him as Draco also came over and sat down.

They sat in silence for a while before Harry spoke up, "Are you angry?" He mumbled into his hands. He was scared to look at him.

Draco placed a hand on Harry's wrist to pull his hand away from his face, "Harry, look at me," he said softly.

He let his hands fall into his lap and looked up into Draco's swimming grey eyes. He looked like he was going to cry again.

"Please don't be angry."

Draco laughed quietly, "Why on earth would I be angry with you?"

"Well, it's just that, I know that we didn't exactly plan this and I understand if you're not ready or-" he was scared to say it out loud, "-or if you don't want this." He couldn't look at Draco anymore, he turned his gaze back to his hands that were resting in his lap.

"Harry, look at me," It was almost a whisper. He looked up again. "Why would you think that I don't want this?"

"Because when I told you, you cried." He felt so stupid saying this out loud.

Draco took Harry's face in his hands and ran his thumbs along his cheeks before leaning in to brush their lips together, it was barely a kiss at all but it was comforting nonetheless.

When he pulled away again, he looked into his eyes, "I didn't cry because I'm angry and I didn't cry because I don't want this. I cried because this is the happiest I've ever been in my life." Draco was crying again now and Harry tried to wipe away his tears but they were flowing so quickly. "Harry, we're going to have a child, we're going to be a family. This is the best news you could have ever given me."

The weight that had settled over him suddenly lifted and Harry pushed Draco back into the bed, straddling him and leaning down to take his lips into a searing kiss. Draco immediately opened his mouth to Harry's and their tongues met, stroking each other as the kiss deepened.

When he started to roll his hips against Draco he realised that they were both already hard and Draco arched up into him as a moan escaped his kiss-swollen lips.

"Harry…."

Wasting no time, Harry wandlessly vanished their clothes as he started thrusting against Draco. They both groaned as their cocks slid together, skin on skin, both leaking with pre-cum.

"Fuck, you know how turned on it makes me when you do that, bloody show-off." Draco pulled Harry back down into another kiss while wrapping his hand around both of their cocks and stroking them roughly.

Harry started trailing a wet line of kisses along Draco's jaw as the other man continued to fist them both.

"Yes-oh, Merlin-Draco- yes!" He was so close, he couldn't remember the last time that he reached his climax so quickly but he didn't spare a thought to care. He could tell that Draco was just as far gone as he was going by the way that he was chanting Harry's name over and over.

"Mine. My Harry." He growled in Harry's ear before biting and sucking his earlobe into his mouth.

"Yes, yours, always yours." Harry managed.

Draco tightened his grip then and Harry found himself spilling his warm come all over Draco's hand and stomach. He felt Draco's release come quickly after as they both cried out.

When they were both done, Harry rolled off to the side to catch his breath. They laid there panting for a while before Draco caught his breath enough to speak.

"I can't believe we're going to have a baby." His voice sounded full of happiness and when Harry turned his head to look at him he saw that he still had a huge smile on his face.

"So, does this count as a birthday present then? Because it might be better than the actual present that I got you to tell you the truth."

Draco rolled on to his side to face him and tangled his hand in Harry's hair to pull him into a quick kiss. "Harry," he breathed against his lips, "if this is a birthday present, then you're going to have a hard time topping this next year."

"Isn't topping your speciality? That is how I got knocked up after all." He couldn't help himself.

"So crude." When Draco stopped laughing he continued, "We should probably go back downstairs, they're probably all wondering what's going on and thanks to the Weasel's outburst earlier, I think we owe them all an explanation."

Harry just rolled his eyes in exasperation, "You know, if you stopped calling him ‘Weasel', he would stop calling you ‘Ferret'."

"We have an understanding, the Weasel and I." He said with a smirk. Harry took it upon himself to wipe that smirk right off the prats’ face.

They never made it back downstairs that night.

*********

December 27th, 1999

The contractions started late last night. They had both decided to have an early night, trying to get as much sleep in as possible before their baby arrived and they would never sleep again.

It was just after 10 pm when he had awoken to sharp pains in his now hugely swollen stomach and he immediately woke up Draco to take him to the hospital. His hospital bag had been packed for weeks now so all they had to do was grab it where it was waiting by the fireplace and floo to St Mungo's. They had Kreacher inform Narcissa of where they were.

Once they had reached St Mungo’s everything moved so quickly and their beautiful daughter had been born at 2:17 am.

It was 7 am now and he knew that he should probably get some rest but he just couldn't take his eyes off of their beautiful daughter. Their daughter, this perfect tiny human that they made. Lily Narcissa Potter- Malfoy.

"She's so perfect," Draco whispered from where he was curled up next to them, Lily was sleeping peacefully on Harry's chest and he had his hand resting lightly on her back, feeling her breathe in and out. They had magically enlarged the bed as soon as the Healers had left them alone so that all three of them could fit. Draco stroked a long finger down the side of their sleeping daughters face while studying her.

"Mmmm. She has your eyes. And your posh nose." Harry said as he reached out his other hand and flicked him on the nose.

Draco huffed a laugh and batted his hand away, "Looks like she has your hair though. Poor angel."

"Hey!" He feigned offence at this, "It's not that bad."

"Harry, it's like a rats nest and nothing can tame it, I've tried literally every hair spell I know." Draco gestured wildly with his hand before draping his arm protectively around the two of them, resting his head on Harry's shoulder and looking down at their baby girl.

"Well, maybe my hair likes being wild, it's a free spirit." Harry continued in mock defence of his hair.

"Free spirit indeed," Draco mumbled out through a yawn.

Harry kissed the top of Lily's head as Draco tightened his arm around them both.

"Thank you. Thank you for giving us our daughter." He whispered sleepily, warm breath ghosting over his neck. It had been a really long night.

The love that he felt right now for his little family was overwhelming, "I love you, Draco."

"I love you too, Harry." Draco placed a light kiss against his neck.

Life could never get better than this.

The End. I promise, this time I mean it, this is the proper end. Thank you so much for reading!