Day18, Harry Potterverse, DM/GL, "The Condition" Title: The Condition Author:littleblackbow Word Count: Short Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: DM/GL Rating: PG-13
Gilderoy had always been a very private man when it came to certain things. Draco knew that and for the most part, he respected his privacy. However, it'd been a full year since he'd rescued Lockhart from St. Mungo's, and to be perfectly honest, he was getting pretty damn tired of waiting for his cake.
Oh, they'd kissed. And Gilderoy had, ahem, performed extremely well when it came to certain sexual pleasures, but Draco wanted more.
He wanted to see the man naked, for one. Oh, sure, there would be the odd glimpse of him with his shirt unbuttoned, or his dressing gown untied, but that just wasn't enough.
So, Draco decided to do something about it.
At dinner, he knew they would have plum pudding for dessert. On the pudding, there would be the customary warmed rum sauce. All it took was a quick charm to splatter the sauce all over the front of Gilderoy's shirt.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Draco said as he quickly stood and went around to help Gilderoy with his clothing. "I knew I shouldn't have my wand at the table, but I just..."
"No, no, that's quite alright," Gilderoy said, holding his steaming, drenched, sticky shirt off of his chest. "I'll just - just go and change and--"
"Don't be silly, Gilderoy, dear. I can take care of that in an instant," Andromeda told him. Teddy was giggling at the mess, and Narcissa was just looking at Draco with narrowed eyes.
"Do you mean using magic? Oh, I greatly appreciate your generosity, but I prefer to have my garments cleaned by hand. No, I do have more shirts upstairs, and I won't be but a moment."
Draco waited a few moments - he actually counted to seven - after Gilderoy left. "I'll just go and see if he needs any help," he told his family as he raced off after him.
Once upstairs, he quietly opened the door to their room and peered inside. He watched as Gilderoy carefully took off his jacket and hung it up on the door. Then he removed his waistcoat, ascot, and finally pulled the shirttails out of his trousers. He finally removed the soaked shirt, and Draco nearly fell over.
Gilderoy had turned his back to Draco so he could hang up the shirt, and there in the middle of his back was a large, long lump right in the middle between his shoulder blades.
It was red and swollen, and at first Draco thought someone might have beat the man. "Gilderoy?" Draco asked timidly to announce his presence in the room.
Gilderoy spun around. As soon as he saw who was in the room with him, a red flush rose up into his cheeks. "Draco."
"You're-- injured?"
"I, erm, didn't want you to see that."
"There are healers, you know. Healers that could--"
Gilderoy shook his head. "There's nothing they can do. It's too close to my, oh, what was it? You know, those bones that make up the back? Back bones? No, some other kind of fancy word."
"Wh-what is it?"
A silence hung in the room as both men just stood there watching each other. "I... I don't think I want to tell you," Gilderoy whispered, finally breaking the silence.