Original poster: claudia_bitu Title: Sweetness and Lethargy Author/Artist: </a></b></a>claudia_bitu Rating:PG Warnings:Um…there’skissing, lol. And this is the third fic I’ve ever written, and it’sunbetaed, so all grammar and spelling mistakes are my own. Disclaimer:The usual. All belongs to JK Rowling, I am merely a simple fangirl. Summary:Harryand friends go to a party held in the Slytherin common room and tensionand a little angst ensues. I know, I’m crap at summaries. Concrit?:Oh yes, please!
This will be cross-posted, so apologies to those who see this twice. :-) The hallway leading down to the Slytherin dungeons was dark anduncomfortably quiet, a literal antithesis to what led to the Gryffindorcommon room. Hermione, flanked by both Ron and Harry on either side,led the way, as comfortable with her surrounding as the two boys at herside – actually ‘boys’ wouldn’t really cut it anymore since atseventeen, they’d long ago outgrown her – were not.
Harrytrailed behind warily, wondering whether it had been a good idea to goalong with Hermione’s plan to participate in these gatherings thatpromoted inter-house unity. If it had been anywhere else but theSlytherin dungeons, he would have been the first to go along with it,it probably would have been him leading the way there…but the idea ofbeing led to a den of snakes didn’t appeal to him in the least and thushe trailed behind, fingers wrapped securely around his wand.
“Wouldthe two of you hurry up, please? We were supposed to be there fifteenminutes ago!” Hermione called, not even bothering to mask theirritation that was present in her voice.
Harry looked to hisright, ready to direct a look in Ron’s direction that read somethingalong the lines of, “Are you sure that you’re the one wearing thetrousers in your relationship,?!” but instead a broad smile settled onthe lower half of his face as a bright swath of color covered hisfriend’s face and upper neck.
“Alright there, Ronald?” Harry asked, a little peevishly.
“Bugger off, Harry.” Ron retorted with a huff, running a hand through his shaggy length of unkempt hair.
“Language, Ronald.” He persisted, feeling tension that had been hanging in the air around them lessen somewhat.
“Harry, Ronald! Hurry…please!” Hermione called once more, adding an annoyed look to join in with her less-than-pleased tone.
“It’sjust an inter-house party, ‘Mione Relax, will you?” Ron countered witha not-too-pleased tone of his own, but exchanging a quick look with thebrunet, ate up the distance between he and his girlfriend with a quick,loose-limbed stride. Hermione cast a quick look over her shoulder inHarry’s direction before raising a brow in query.
Knowingbetter than to continue to hold off from doing as she wanted – one ofthose god awful reasons that he was being led into the dens of serpentsto begin with, his seeming inability to not go along with whatever shehad in store for the three of them – Harry quickened his step and wasat her side within seconds.
The door to the Slytherin dungeonshad been charmed to allow any 7th and 6th years from any of the fourhouses to be admitted, and so there they were less than a minute later,looking around a lavishly furnished room awash with an intermingling ofsilver and green. It wasn’t the first time that either of the three ofthem had been to the Slytherin common room, however it was the firsttime that the three of them weren’t huddled under Harry’s InvisibleCloak, so that in itself leant this an air of novelty.
Harryglanced quickly in Ron’s direction and noted a curious twitch thatcovered his features every time that his eyes traveled over thenever-ending green and silver all around the room. Trust Ron Weasley tobe a true Gryffindor, through and through. “Merlin, how can anyone livein a place like this?” Ron asked, none too quietly as his eyes restedon an ornate tapestry hanging over the massive stone fireplace in themiddle of the room, featuring, what else, but a wide variety of snakes.
“Youpromised to be nice.” Hermione said, shooting the red head a bit of astern look just as none other than Pansy Parkinson approached them,sleek black hair framing her pug-like features in a beautifully coiffedbob – not that Harry would know such a thing, of course. He was theyoungest Seeker in Hogwart’s history, not a hairdresser or anything ofthe like.
“Hermione…Potter, Weasley, thank you for coming.Please, make yourself at home.” Pansy smiled in the Head Girl’sdirection. Both Ron and Harry, of course, had known that Pansy andHermione had somehow overcome whatever differences they’d had over theprevious six years after being partnered up in double Potions earlierin the year, but actually seeing evidence of it…the incredibly friendlyand civil way that they were behaving towards one another…well that wasdefinitely something else.
“Thanks for talking your house intoagreeing to this, Pansy. Somehow I didn’t expect any of your fellow 7thyears to have given in quite so easily.” Hermione said with a confidentsmile, looking wryly to either side of her.
Pansy laughed, “Wellit wasn’t that easy. But never mind that, make sure to stick around fora while, Hermione and I have an extra special surprise in store for allof you.” This was said to anyone within a ten foot radius of them, andexchanging conspiratory smiles, Pansy and Hermione moved on from oneanother. It was an incredibly surreal thing for either Harry or Ron towatch, that was for certain!
“Are you going to give us a clueabout what you and your best friend Parkinson have in store for us,‘Mione?” Ron asked as the three of them approached the well-stockedrefreshment table, ruffling his shaggy red hair with a freckled hand.Harry joined in with looking at Hermione expectantly. One would thinkthat if you’d come as close to death as the three of them had oncountless occasions in the past, that it wouldn’t even be necessary toask such a thing.
Obviously Hermione didn’t share the sameopinion and giving them a secretive smile, she shook her head. “Even ifI could, I wouldn’t. You’ll just have to wait like everyone else. Careto dance, Ronald?” She asked, looking up at the lanky red haired fellowto her side, taking him aback with her request. Even with Harry’samused expression, Ron colored a bit but took her splayed fingers inhis larger hand, hovering protectively over her.
Keen browneyes met Harry’s momentarily, mischievousness dancing in them, just asRon was about to pull her away, “Enjoy yourself while you can, Harry.You’re next.” And with that, Ron and Hermione moved towards the crowdedcenter of the room where many other of their year mates from the otherthree houses danced to music coming from massive speakers that weresituated randomly throughout the Slytherin common room.
Harrytook the opportunity to grab a cup of butterbeer and proceeded to makehis way around the room, if not to avoid to Hermione from her promiseto drag him onto the dance floor once she was finished with Ron, thanto at least see if any of his other housemates were in the room or ifthey were the only three who’d come to “this gathering to promiseinter-house unity”. So far it looked as if it was all Slytherins andHufflepuffs (surprisingly) and he caught sight of a small smattering ofRavenclaws, but no other Gryffindors other than he, Ron and Hermione,of course.
It was hard to concentrate on much of anything ashe made his way through the steadily growing throng of people thatbegan to fill up the room, music blaring, the center of the room filledwith a sea of moving bodies. But with a welcome sigh, he caught sightof Neville, Seamus and Padma a few feet ahead. Contorting his body toget by a Ravenclaw who’d suddenly broken into some dance moves ahead ofhim – but he was able to manage it, he was the youngest seeker inHogwart’s history after all – he reached the them quickly.
“Alright,Harry?!!!” He heard Neville ask him, yelling even though they were onlyseparated by a foot, but needing to do so to be heard over the thumpingof music.
“Yes, I arrived a bit ago with Ron and Hermione. Have you been here long?!!”
Andso it went on for at least another forty-five minutes until Harryventured going through the masses of dancing people to get morebutterbeer. It was either that or leave for the evening, and he for onedidn’t look forward to having to explain his disappearance from theparty that both she and Pansy had somehow managed to organize toHermione, so butterbeer it would be.
“Enjoying yourself,Potter?” Came a long familiar, venom-dripping-from-every-word voicefrom behind him as Harry helped himself to another cup of butterbeer.With a deep breath – he had also promised Hermione that he would benice at all costs and that included not suddenly drawing his wand onMalfoy – he turned in the direction of those cool, modulated words.
“Yes,thanks.” Harry responded, taken aback that Malfoy wasn’t flanked byeither of his dim-witted body guards Crabbe and Goyle, but recoveredhis composure admirably.
“Good. Considering that you and yourfriends aren’t used to such splendor, I suggest that you enjoy it.”Malfoy countered, a flash of amusement crossing his pale grey eyes, butthen disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared.
Harry’sbrows furrowed, reminding himself of his promise to Hermione, and withshoulders set tensely, proceeded to move around Draco to return to hisfriends. However, some higher power must have not been content withsuch civility, or what came as close to civil as these two could be toone another, because before Harry could stop it, and seeing as how hewas the youngest Seeker in Hogwarts’ history and thus had the reflexesto prove it, he was pushed roughly from the back by one of those peopledancing all around them, and came into full contact with Malfoy, whohad not been expecting this in the least.
A scant millisecondlater, an image came to Harry’s mind, and it was replayed quickly. Itwas of a time during the summer when he’d been at the Burrow. It’d beena beautiful day, the sun had been shining brightly overhead and thewind had moved so softly through the trees. He remembered lying in thegrass, the great blue sky was dotted with clouds, and he’d felt for thefirst time in such a long time that he was carefree and young andhappy. It wasn’t the happiest he’d ever been, but lying there, thefeeling he had felt then with the sun on his face, wind whistlingaround him during one of his few moments alone, was a feeling ofsweetness and lethargy.
It was the same thing he was feelingthen. In less than a blink of an eye he was suffused with a sensationso similar to the one that he’d felt that warm summer day. And therewas a smell of warm spearmint and –
“Potter, what the hell areyou doing?! Let go of me!!” And as quickly as he’d been overcome, itwent and he realized two things. One, his fingers were wrapped tightlyaround Draco’s upper arms and had him pinned against the wall and two,those words had been pretty much yelled into his ear and this wasprimarily because…his face was buried into the crook of Draco’s neck,nose buried into the very base, and the rapid throbbing of Draco’sheart beat hummed against his lips.
Harry pulled back fromDraco as if he was made of fire, eyes round as saucers as he clutchedhis fingers into tight fists. Draco’s face was stone cold, mouthcurling into a familiar sneer, and for whatever reason it felt as ifHarry had been kicked in the gut. “Someone pushed me….look, I’m sorry.I’m going.”
And not giving Draco a chance to do much ofanything, he made his way back to where his friends waited for him,even through the throngs of their year mates that stood in between.
Hewasn’t going to think of this. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. The litany ofthe two words rang over and over in his head with each of his steps,somehow in beat with the music around them. He wasn’t going to think ofthat, he wasn’t. It had been only a second, less than second, but inthat little second it was as if his world had been momentarily shakenup.
Ron and Hermione were waiting with Neville and the rest ofthem, laughing at whatever thing Seamus had just said to them. Catchingsight of Harry, Ron yelled out, “Where did you go to?”
“I needed to get more butterbeer.”
“Whereis it then?” Hermione asked as he drew nearer, quickly sidesteppingLavender Brown who was giggling madly with Susan Bones.
Harrypaused for a moment before looking down quickly at his empty…and was heimagining the fact that his usually steady hands were shaking a bit? Helooked back at her just as quickly before replying loudly, “I finishedit by the refreshment table.”
Now Hermione wasn’t called thecleverest witch of their generation for nothing and she assessed himquickly with her soft brown eyes. She took in his slightly frazzled andalmost confused behavior but didn’t comment on it. She didn’t commenton the high flush that covered most of his face either, instead shesmiled before stating fiendishly, “Let’s dance, Harry.” And with that,she grinned up into Ron’s face before grabbing a hold of Harry’sslightly unsteady hand and led him onto the floor.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Careto dance, Harry?” He looked to his side and to his surprise, or ratherif he be honest, lack of it, found Ginny standing within less than afoot from him, a look of expectancy covering her face which turnedeither green or purple or even blue due to the charmed lighting of theSlytherin common room.
He and Hermione had left the dancefloor alittle over fifteen minutes ago (in fact, she was already back on itwith Ron), and it hadn’t been soon enough for him. And he wasn’twilling to repeat the experience, least of all with his girlfriend fromlast year who didn’t seem to get it through her head that he didn’twant any thing more than friendship from her now, but who he hadn’t theheart to disappoint. He ran a hand through his mass of inky black hair,further making it more unkempt and stick out in all different directionthan it normally did, stopping to adjust his eyeglasses.
“Thanks…butI’d rather not, Ginny. Sorry.” He said, smiling in what he hoped wasenough of a friendly manner. He slid his hands into the pockets of hisjeans (these actually fit, he’d gotten them during a shopping excursionthat Hermione had dragged both he and Ron on earlier in the term),feeling comforted for his fingers to come into contact with the smoothwooden handle of his wand.
Not one to be deterred, Ginnytucked a long strand of vibrant red hair (not that he’d know thedifference between such things of course) behind an ear and settled alook on him, the corners of her lips tilting up as she continued, “Iknow, but it will be fun, don’t you think? Come on, Harry.”
“Ginny,I would…”He stopped, for some unknown reason, his mind returning towhat transpired less than an hour before, and just as quickly, his gavea brisk shake of his head, wanting nothing more than that disturbingfeeling of sweetness and lethargy that had settled over him to beforgotten…more than forgotten, for it to never have existed. Focusingdirectly on her, shoulders set he nodded, flexing the hands that laysomewhat uselessly at his sides now. “Okay, let’s go then.”
Witha gleeful smile, Ginny reached a hand forward and the next thing heknew, her fingers where entwined with his and he was being movedtowards the dancefloor where so many other people moved to thepulsating beat. They moved through a sea of dancing bodies until theywere near the very center of the floor, he being led by the girl withthe swinging red hair ahead of him.
She turned around andfaced him, a slightly curved, teasing smile on her lips as she joinedin the mayhem of moving bodies that surrounded them from every angle.Lowering her lashes she leaned forward, her soft breasts brushingagainst his arm before she moved back, the look on her face could onlybe called predator like.
Harry didn’t like it, didn’t feel atit ease with her overt attempts at sensuousness. Didn’t like the wayshe would grasp his fingertips with her overly warm hands and wouldpull him towards her, looking up at him through a fan of dark lashes.He didn’t like the way she tried to brush against him, almostteasingly. He didn’t like it, not in the least.
And though hetried, tried his damnedest to not think of it, it was all he couldthink about. That heady, languid sensation of never-ending sweetness.He couldn’t get it out of his mind. And it wasn’t for lack ofcomparison because Ginny certainly touched him enough... less than amoment of touching, of – against his will of course – being pressed soclosely to Dra- Malfoy affected him more than every other memory of herever had.
Harry grasped the hands that rested lightly on hisarms, pulling them down gently until they rested in front of her. He’dstopped trying to dance with her, not that he’d been doing much of thatto begin with and leaning forward, brushed a careful kiss on herforehead before murmuring soft words against her ear, “I’m sorry Ginny,I can’t. I can’t.”
He turned and walked away, moving deftly toavoid bumping into too many people as he made tried to exit the flooras quickly as possible. He didn’t pay attention to where he was going,the blood pounding in his veins with every step, as he looked around,eyes adjusting to the varying colors that colored the walls with everyflicker of lights.
He was at the refreshment table withinseconds, not even aware that that was the direction that he was goingin. With an air of caution that hadn’t been there an hour before, hereached for a cup of butterbeer and emptied it a few seconds after ithad come into contact with his mouth. He should set the cup down andreturn to his friends, better yet, he should set it down and leave,perhaps go for a ride through the nighttime skies on his trustyFirebolt. But he didn’t, he waited…he didn’t know for what, but he did.
Whatever it was he was waiting for didn’t come within a minuteor even two. He soon set his cup down, exhaling a long stream of air ashe did so.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry didn’t know what time itwas, but it was probably late because by the end of the evening onlyfifteen or so of them remained, and that was including he, Ron,Hermione (of course), Neville and Seamus, Padma and Ginny having bothleft a while ago. From the confident looks on both Pansy and Hermione’sfaces, the party had been a rousing success and the girls were alreadylaughingly planning more of these get-togethers which would most likelybe as well attended if this one had been, if only because no one waslooking forward to the nagging that would ensue from either girl ifthey did not come.
“I think it’s only fair that we host it inGryffindor next time.” The Head Girl stated with a cheeky grin,ignoring the looks exchanged by her fellow house mates that remained.
Pansynodded while a devilish look settled on her face. “I think this groupis small enough to play a game that I’m sure will more than encourageinter-house unity.” She gave them all, including Hermione, a bit of asly look.
“What sort of game?” Ron asked, unable to contain himself.
“Well,in Muggle Studies we were discussing the sorts of games that areusually played at Muggle parties, and being the overly studious typethat you all know I am, I researched a few of these games on my own andhave settled on one that I’m certain that we are all going to love,don’t you agree, Draco?” She called over her shoulder to the pointyblond who was sitting in a massive leather chair by the fireplace,replacing a flask of some sort back inside of his robes.
Harry’sbreath caught as the blond’s eyes met his briefly, running along-fingered hand through blond hair that didn’t have a hair out ofplace. “I wouldn’t go that far, Pansy.” Draco responded, allowinghimself to become comfortable in the leather chair, and settled back.An affectionate smile (surprising that) crossed his face as he gavePansy one last look.
“Well anyhow,” Pansy continued, delicatelywithdrawing her wand from the inside pocket of her dark school robes(many of the people who’d arrived that night had worn those forwhatever reason), “I think the first thing I shall do is ensure thatwe’re all comfortable before going into detail about the lovely littlegame that we’re going to play. If muggles can amuse themselves with it,I don’t see why we shouldn’t.” She ended this with a teasing laugh andflicking her wand with her wrist, she mumbled a quick spell and a splitsecond later, everyone’s robes disappeared until they all remained injeans, pullovers, etcetera.
Harry’s eyes immediately flew toMalfoy who continued to sit in the worn leather chair, the dark greymaterial of his trousers stretched lovingly over his upper thighs,black turtleneck framing the pale white skin of his neck…of that throatthat his head had been buried in earlier in the evening.
Merlin!What was wrong with him? Had someone decided it would be a great laughto add something hallucinogenic to the butterbeer to make his feelthings that he definitely was not meant to be feeling!? Was this somegrand joke that the Slytherins had cooked up for the houses? Quite away to promote inter-house unity it turned out. What a load of rubbish,that.
“Now that we’re more comfortable, we most definitely arenot going to need our school robes for this, I shall explain the gamethat Hermione and I have arranged for us to play.” Pansy nodded inHermione’s direction before continuing, “As I was saying before, afterresearching the sorts of games that muggles play to amuse themselveswith, and knowing that Hermione would frown on us playing anything likePin the tail on the House Elf, I came across a most amusing game that’sbeen played at muggle parties for years upon years…Seven Minutes inHeaven.”
Pansy finished this off with an immensely confidentsmile and Neville who’s been drinking something sputtered loudly,coughing loudly as he looked helplessly in Hermione’s direction.
“Sevenminutes in Heaven? What kind of game is that? Are tins or toffee andchocolate frogs going to appear out of thin air or something?!” Ronasked incredulously, like most of the room looking at Hermione forexplanation. Hermione sighed wearily before moving to join Pansy in themiddle of their group.
“According to Pansy, in some versions ofthis game, everyone but the moderators of the game, which would be bothmyself and Pansy in this instance, are blindfolded and two at a timeare left in a closet…in the dark.” This last bit was said with a brightflush.
“What?!!!” More than one person exclaimed at this lastrevelation. “How does this encourage inter-house unity, Hermione?!” Ronasked with a frown on his face, unable to wrap his mind around theconcept.
“It’s just a silly party game, Weasley. What, are youchicken?” This came from an unlikely source. Malfoy sidled up to bothHermione and Pansy, a mocking expression written all over his face ashe surveyed not just Ron but most of the other people who’d remainedbehind.
Ron flushed angrily, “Shut your face, Ferret.”
“Ron!”Hermione exclaimed, giving both he and Malfoy whose face turned icy avery stern look. She’d obviously picked up a thing or two from theirTransfigurations professor. “As Draco just said, it’s just a sillyparty game, nothing to get angry about. If you don’t want to play, youdon’t have to. I however intend to.” She gave a toss of wickedly curlyhead before smiling up at Pansy who looked as if she’d had some of theair taken out of her sails.
“In the closet, as you can see, wehave produced more than one, you can do as much…or as little as you’dlike. The way that we’re going to go about choosing who goes in withwhom is by writing your names on a slip of paper that we shall provideafter which you shall fold it place it here.” Pansy presented a darkblue velvet bag. “After you’ve done that, and been blindfolded, we willcast a charm on the bag and it will select who will go into the closettogether for seven minutes, hence the name. Only Hermione and I willknow who has been selected and we will come around and collect you anddirect you towards the closet and as soon as the door shuts, we shallbegin the countdown. I hope it isn’t cliché of me to say this, but Itrust that what happens while in the closet will stay there, yes?That’s part of fun. Unlike the Muggle version, we are sworn to secrecyand wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what happened in there even if wewanted to. So now that I hope I’ve laid most of your fears aside, shallwe play?”
And so it was that five minutes later, all twentyremaining party guests had written their names on strips of paper andalthough there were a few groans of dissent, they all folded the paperand added it to the bag.
Harry was incredibly nervous and hedidn’t know why. This wasn’t exactly the most nerve-wracking thing thathe’d ever done in his entire life, but it was very close to it. Perhapsit was that as he’d gone forward to add his own strip of paper of themixture, his fingers had momentarily brushed Malfoy’s who had added hisown at just about the same time. His eyes has met Harry’s, and therewas a flash of nervousness…fear almost in those grey eyes before hemoved back, almost as if he’d come into contact with something that wasvery hot to the touch.
He’d done his best to not let his eyesstray back to Malfoy, to not let his eyes drink in Malfoy’s welldefined features, pale grey eyes and hair that looked as soft as downto the touch, not that Harry would know such a thing of course...Hewasn’t gay, not that there was anything wrong with it of course. Otherthan this, he’d been like any young wizard his age, admiring of goodlooking girls like Cho and then Ginny last school term. But forwhatever reason, although he didn’t want to, he couldn’t keep himselffrom taking Malfoy in with his eyes hungrily, briefly even.
Hisform was lithe and tall, probably due more to genetics than Quidditch,although Harry was certain that that helped. The black turtleneckemphasized the almost delicate pallor of his skin and the frigidiced-blondness of him. If Malfoy had been a girl, he would have beengorgeous, that was for certain. Now once his mind started going downthis road, Harry made certain to look away and think of mounds ofhorrible things, like Uncle Vernon in one of Aunt Petunias dressinggowns (if he was ever able to fit into one), biting into an earwaxflavored jelly bean…anything other than the train of thought that itseemed bent on pursuing.
He wasn’t gay. He probably shouldn’thave walked away from Ginny as easily as he had earlier this evening.After they finished playing this absolutely daft game, he needed tocollect some of the butterbeer and have Hermione test it for charms oranything that could possibly explain why in the hell he was having anythoughts about Dra- Malfoy that were not at all what he should everthink about in regards to him. At least not in that context!!
Beforehe knew it, he heard Hermione state some intricate spell and then…therewas darkness. Reaching hands up to his face, he felt the blindfoldshielding his eyes and when he moved them towards the back of his head,felt the tight knot that was formed. It wasn’t going to budge, he couldtell that. Now, it was just a matter of waiting…and continuing to notallow his mind to go into directions that it should definitely not begoing into.
He heard the shuffling of feet and then softwhispering and then finally the closing of the door that he assumed wasleading into a Closet. Quite a party game, waiting around, blindfoldedonly to be shuffled in after who knew how long into a closet withsomeone.
Uncle Vernon in a flower-printed dressing gown withDudley alongside him in a ballerina outfit. Harry tried not to gag atthe horrible imagery that he forced into his mind.
Timestretched, almost lasting forever. There weren’t any audible noisescoming from any of the closets, and he assumed that they’d beensoundproofed to add to the entire anonymity of the entire ordeal. Andthen after what felt like an eternity, he heard the soft fluttering ofwhat he could only assume were those strips of paper that held all oftheir fortunes. Definitely the one that he cared the most about at thismoment, which was his.
He hoped that he wasn’t stuck in theirwith Zabini, or Crabbe. He didn’t know how he’d ever be able to survivethe psychological trauma. That alone would be able to do what Voldemorthadn’t done before Harry’d rid their world him a few months ago, andthat was be the death of him. There was an opening of doors and thequiet shuffling of feet following that a few moments later.
“Pansy!I don’t think that this a good idea.” He heard Hermione state in a loudwhisper to the Slytherin girl. He turned his head in their direction, alittle concerned at the very confused tone in Hermione’s voice, and onethat he definitely hadn’t ever heard during their entire friendship.
“Rulesare rules, Hermione. We can’t go against what’s come out. We just haveto follow through.” He heard Pansy whisper back to Hermione, also witha bit of a confused tone in her voice.
“But Pansy, I am sure that in such situations, this would be forfeit. There is no way that we can possibly –“
“Rulesare rules, Hermione. We have to follow though.” Pansy responded,sounding very resigned to whatever they were discussing.
Andthen a minute later, “Harry, it’s your turn,” was whispered into hisear and he felt Pansy’s fingers wrap around his shoulders and begin tosteer him wherever he was meant to go. “It would be easier if youdidn’t speak throughout this. Trust me.” She stated, just as quietlyand with a soft push, was moved into the closet.
His arms shotforward, those much admired seeker’s reflexes coming into play as hevery carefully made his way into the darkness of the closet. His handscame into contact with a cool stone wall and then he heard it, thesound of approaching footsteps and the next thing he knew, he felt morethan heard, someone pushed into the room – he was very careful to holdonto the wall in case they bumped into him – and then heard the doorshut behind him, the soft click signaling a locking spell had beenperformed by either of the very able witches on the other side of thedoor.
He heard the soft pant of exhaled air coming from theperson that he guessed stood less than three feet away from him, if hisinstincts were right, and was careful, for whatever reason to notexhale too loudly in return. He’d been planning to follow Pansy’sadvice and not speak throughout this entire stupid encounter – what aparty game indeed – but opted it, as the savior of the Wizarding World,it was his prerogative after all.
“Hello?” He asked, very, very carefully. The person exhaled loudly.
“Damnit, Potter. Whose idea of a joke is this?” Malfoy’s voice responded andit was enough to make Harry feel as if he’d been doused in ice coldwater. He and Malfoy were locked into a closet together. Brilliant.Absolutely brilliant.
Harry’s hands lay flat against the stone wall behind him as he responded, “If only I knew. This wasn’t my idea.”
“I’dbe concerned if it was, Potter.” Malfoy spat in reply, and Harry didn’tthink he was imagining things when it seemed as if his voice was comingfrom a closer distance than it had previously, although if Malfoy wasaware of this, he didn’t know. “Pansy and her stupid ideas. I’m goingto tell her off as soon as I get out of here.” Heavy breaths followedthis.
“Just...don’t move. Stay where you are. It’s only seven minutes.”
“Youdon’t know all of it. Pansy neglected to tell everyone that what is inreality only seven minutes might feel like a year in here for all weknow. It’s some charm she added to this. But I thought that I’d bepushed in here with Daphne or Susan even, but not you Scarhead.”
“What?!Are you saying that there is some sort of mad time spell on this thing?We could be in here for a year? Alone?! Together??!!!!” He was notgoing to start hyperventilating, he wasn’t.
He was theGryffindor seeker for Merlin’s sake! He’d defeated Voldemort, didn’tthat guarantee some sort of neverending happiness and glee as a result?Wasn’t he owed that rather than being stuck in a bloody closet in theSlytherin common room with this pointy ferret?!
“Not a year, butit could feel like it. I shouldn’t have gone along with this, I havemuch better use for my time than being anywhere near you Scarhead.”
“I can’t believe that they’d play such a dirty trick on us-“
“Wellneither can I! You can’t imagine that I’d arrange something like this,would you?! Especially after the stunt that you played earlier tonight,I would think not!” Malfoy proclaimed a little too loudly.
Harryflushed furiously, clutching tightly at the cold stones against hisback, not even willing to make a movement that would bring him anycloser to Draco. It was bad enough that his mind so badly wanted torace with thought that it should not be thinking, to be reminded of it.It was tempting, oh so tempting, but he wouldn’t…he couldn’t lethimself even waver for a moment.
“I was pushed!”
“Itdidn’t feel like that to me. One second I about to reach for somebutterbeer and the next thing I know, you’re pushing me into the wallwith your face buried in my neck. I never took you for a poof, Potter.”Malfoy countered with a laugh. If Harry was able to look at himself insome mirror, he was sure that his face would be flaming right now, butas it was, he only had to imagine the bright flush that colored hisface as he attempted to maintain his composure.
“I was pushed, Malfoy. It was an accident.”
“I’m sure that that’s what all of you poofs say when someone is close to discovering your secrets.” Malfoy continued.
Harrymade certain that his breaths were even because he knew he wasn’timagining the fact that Malfoy’s voice seemed to be coming closer thanit had before. He probably didn’t know, but Harry was not moving in theleast, so he hoped that Malfoy caught the hint and would back away.“I’ve already explained what happened. I won’t again.” He said at last,leaning his head against the wall behind him, determined to maintainhis silence from now on, hopefully that would make the time go byfaster.
It was quiet then and all that Harry could hear wasthe soft intermingling of both he and Malfoy’s breaths. He didn’t knowhow far away the other boy was from him, but what he did know was thateven the horrible images he was beginning to inflict on himself weren’taffecting him as he wished they would.
The upper part of hisright arm felt like it was burning. It was a throbbing warmth thatcoursed the entire length of his arm, from his clavicle to the tips ofhis fingers. He didn’t move, concentrating on keeping his breathingeven, on getting out of this as quickly as possible, and on letting hiscontrol snap for a second, although the tension that surrounded himfelt so thick that it could be sliced through with a knife.
Andthere it was. The merest, softest of brushes of another arm against hisright one. “Sorry.” Malfoy said quickly, surprisingly, and shifted away.
“Malfoy, I-“ And Harry shifted slightly only to be interrupted by the one he’d just begun to address.
“Don’t touch me, Potter.” He said this quickly.
“I wasn’t going to, Malfoy, I just wanted to –“
“Good,stay where you are. And don’t…don’t touch me.” Malfoy’s voice quiveredas he said this and that awareness seeped into Harry’s pores, it wasalmost as if Malfoy was afraid that he would do that, did that meanthat…..
Harry didn’t know what facet of his character camethrough, certainly a side of himself that he wasn’t at all acquaintedwith because he shifted from the wall and heard the loud breath thataccompanied his movement. He felt the way that the blond who wasblindfolded next to him began to move away and didn’t recognize whatcaused him to reach his hand forward, instinct perhaps, but his fingersgrazed the underside of a smooth cheek.
“Potter, what are you –“
“Idon’t know.” Harry said quietly, because it was true. He didn’t knowwhat he was doing, he didn’t know why one moment he’d been clutchingthat wall behind him for dear life and now…he’d somehow separatedwhatever inches were between the two of them and here he was, fingertips touching the smooth, warm flesh of Malfoy’s cheek.
Bothof Harry’s hands explored the contours of Malfoy’s face, runninggently…so very gently over the dips and falls of it. His fingers gentlytraced the cool flesh over his forehead, traveling down the straightline of his nose. Malfoy’s breath tickled his fingertips as they passedover his nostrils before the moved towards hot, hot cheeks, skimmingthe high cheekbones and then into the fine eyebrows…and then settledover the rounded curves of his eyelids, framing…memorizing. His owneyes shut and he was surprised that the blindfold wasn’t pushing hisglasses into his face.
Harry felt the almost imperceptibletilting of Malfoy’s face, it quivered still, almost as if he wasleaning into his touch, but he didn’t think on that. The only thingthat seemed to matter right now was doing this, whatever absolutely madthing he was hell bent on doing. And finally, finally his thumb tracedthe seam of Malfoy’s mouth.
His mouth was so soft, softer thanhe ever knew any person’s mouth could be, especially a boy. It was softand firm and Harry bit his own lip when he felt the blond’s breathghosting over the palm of his hand.
Harry’s calloused fingers,due to many years of playing, moved down the line of the smoothlyshaven jaw, and followed it until the pads of his fingertips restedagainst the insane vibrations of Malfoy’s heartbeat. Harry was surethat his own heart was pumping as fiercely as the blond’s before him.It was too much, much too much.
Harry made to move away, toturn around and start pounding at the door, this needed to be over, ithad to be. This couldn’t be happening. He needed to stop this beforewent mad with whatever it was that was driving this.
“Potter…please.” Malfoy’s voice was small.
“I’msorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Harry began but stopped when hefelt Draco’s hands curl around his shoulders. Merlin! There was such apleasure in his touch, and it was all he could do to maintain whatlittle composure remained.
“Potter.” Malfoy said this, andHarry’s heart began to beat like mad, faster and harder than it everhad in his entire life, more than during any of those exhilaratingflights through the sky, when he felt Malfoy’s breath on his jaw.“Potter.” Malfoy said once more and it was whatever small levycontaining his sanity fell to this onslaught but a second later hishands were framing Malfoy’s jaw, fingers splayed against that rapidlythrobbing beat, and his lips were settled over the ones he’d beenmemorizing moments before.
It was Heaven, the closest toheaven on earth. Malfoy’s lips were so soft and opened under hiswithout restraint, just gave in. He tasted of cotton candy and Harrypushed him back against the wall, devouring him, remembering him,moving his own mouth against the one before him, knowing that they’dnever speak of this…they never could.
It was summer again,lying on the grass and feeling that sweetness course through him, thatsense of complete and utter bliss. It was lethargy and succulent andeverything that this shouldn’t be. But Merlin it was better thananything else in the entire world and he reveled in it, continuing totaste Malfoy as if he was the rarest of sweets.
He’d tastedTurkish delight once when he was about seven. Dudley had gone through abox full of the stuff but had managed to leave one on the kitchencounter that Harry had nicked before heading to his cupboard. It hadtasted like heaven too. This was better. A million, a billion timesbetter than anything he’d ever known.
“Harry.” He heard Malfoywhisper against his lips and suddenly Harry wished that he could wrenchthese stupid blindfolds off the two of them, but he knew he couldn’t.They were in a dream. This was all it was. A dream. But his name,hearing it whispered by those lips he’d just been kissing made him feelas if he had warm, gooey honey traveling through his veins.
Harry’sbreathing was heavy as he rested his forehead against Malfoy’s, nosespressed together, the both of them sharing the air between them, and itwasn’t much.
“Malfoy, I –“
A soft click interruptedwhatever he had to say and due to instinct more than to anything else,he shifted, hands dropping from where they had rested few momentsbefore. “Harry…Draco, are you alright?” Hermione said this cautiouslyas she pulled open the door.
She said a quick spell then bothof their blindfolds disappeared and Harry’s eyes shot to Draco, whodidn’t return the look, but was as ruffled as Harry imagined he was.The blond’s face was set in stone, but his lips were bright, brightpink and it was all that Harry could do not to reach across, to takehis hand in his and touch him again, feel that sweetness again.
“Harry?”Hermione interrupted his musings and his eyes met hers quickly. Helooked at Draco again – he could never be just Malfoy again to him, notafter… -- and knowing that the blond wasn’t going to look back at him,his heart filled with a sudden aching at the touch-me-not aura thatsurrounded him, Harry sighed. It may as well have been a dream for allthat it could be now.
He began to move towards to the door,his steps heavy as he approached the softly lit room where a few othervery dazed looking people awaited, giving his eyes a moment to adjustafter complete darkness. He was so stupid, how could he have done sucha thing, given into such an impulse?!
How had all of thishappened? How has this progressed as far as it had? And why oh why didthat image keep replaying in his mind, further aided by his senses thatjust didn’t seem willing to forget, to let go of what had happened. Heneeded to forget. His heart ached once more and he felt it to the verymarrow of his bones.
“Get out of the way, Potter. We don’thave all the time in the world you know.” Draco said and Harryrelented, not knowing what else to do. Especially not while feelingsuch dejection. Harry moved aside to let him pass, averting his eyes sothey wouldn’t rest on the back of that blond head. And then…then hefelt the soft brushing of a hand against his, the stroking of a fingeragainst the back of his hand.
Harry’s eyes reached Draco’shungrily. Draco looked back this time and smiled briefly, a smilefilled with a thousand promises, before moving past Hermione to exit.Hermione looked at Harry, having caught his look, but he said nothing,sweetness and lethargy teasing his senses as he followed the blond intothe awaiting room.