A Good Strong Cuppa
Madame Zephyrus
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
"What the—Draco, what the bloody hell is going on in here? It's freezing in this house!"
At Harry's shouting a bundled up Draco came toddling out of their bedroom. He was wearing at least two pairs of long johns, one pair of sweatpants, six pairs of wool socks, four long-sleeved shirts, a sweatshirt, down coat and the furriest hat known to man.
"Okay love, that might be a little exaggerated. What's wrong with the heat? It was on when I left this morning." Harry had enough sense to hide his amusement and even resisted the urge to find his camera. His self-preservation skills were improving, but Draco was absolutely comical.
"This is not exaggerated!" Draco yelled. Only, with the muffler across his face it lost most of the intended effect. "The heat has not been on since 10, count it, 10 A.M.! And I've been dressed like this ever since. I couldn't even make myself tea." He ended his whine with his best pouting face.
"Oh no not your tea! Here sweetheart, let me go get that for you." Harry answered in a patronizing tone. Nevertheless he hung up his coat and made his way into the kitchen.
While he was filling the tea pot (Draco preferred it made the muggle way, bless him), Draco waddled in behind him. "It's been awful harry. I can't feel my fingers or nose; I was too cold to even nap!"
Harry hid his smile by setting the pot on the stove and twisting the knob to 'High'. "Draco, that sounds just terrible. Please sit down, take a load off. Sounds like you've had a rough day." He pulled out one of the kitchen table chairs and patted it for Draco.
Deciding to ignore Harry's sarcasm, Draco took the seat and continued the pity party Harry hadn't known he was invited to. "Really, I couldn't do anything I wanted to today. Now I have the threat of hypothermia hanging over my head—or the flu—or the common cold at the very least! Why are you making that noise? Are you choking or laughing? You have better not be laughing at me Harry James Potter or you'll be sorry!"
Attempting to control his sniggering, Harry turned to his distressed fiancé. "No baby, I'm not laughing I'm—shivering, from the cold, yes. But now I'm going to ask you a serious question Draco. Why didn't you just use your wand to fix the heat?" As amusing as Draco's transition into the full muggle world was, he couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't just fixed everything up with his magic. Per usual.
Draco sniffed and looked in the other direction. He mumbled something and began picking at an imaginary loose string on one of his jumpers.
"I'm sorry, what happened?" Harry asked curiously.
"I mfphed my mmgh." Draco said, barely more audible than before.
"Draco, really, why didn't you fix it? Are you hurt? Did you forget the spell? Because you know you could've just called Hermione and she would have known. Or, Pansy even, if you still won't talk to Hermione since she married—"
"I lost my wand okay! Stop babbling, Merlin. Giving me a bloody headache you are. I lost my wand and haven't been able to find it all day! Happy now?"
Harry stood perfectly still for five seconds before he fell over clutching his midsection in gales of laughter.
Draco's eyebrows scrunched to the middle and he adopted a defensive tone. "I don't see what's so funny to you. You've lost your wand plenty of times. Not to mention how many times you've had to help Weasel find his." Harry continued to giggle on the floor. He had tears streaming down his face. "Fine," Draco sniffed, "Let me know when you've grown up. I'll be in our ice box of a living room waiting."
Before Draco could walk out of the kitchen however, Harry grabbed his ankle. But Draco, caught up in his huff, didn't realize it and went to walk which promptly caused him to fall over painfully on top of Harry.
"That could have gone better." Harry muttered massaging his nose which had been elbowed hard by Draco's fall. "Are you okay?" Harry asked concerned by the unmoving pile of clothes on top of him.
"You never take me seriously." Draco said stuck like a turtle on his back. At least his silly hat had been knocked off in the process so Harry could finally understand him clearly. "I really can't find my wand so I couldn't fix anything. Then I was worried that maybe it was something with the gas and it could be leaking in here and could kill us in our sleep. I had no idea who to call about it and no wand and we're out of Floo powder and I'm afraid of the telephone still after that prank phone call from the Weaselette. So I didn't want to leave incase the maybe leaking gas got worse and the house blew up and you'd blame me for being neglectful or something. I was scared and worried and just wanted you to come home all day."
Feeling like a giant sack of shite, Harry helped set Draco right side up again and even tried to fluff his mussed hair a bit. Naturally Draco swatted his hand away and fixed it himself.
"Draco, I'm very sorry that all of this happened and I was hasty in my humorous judgment. You could have owled me maybe? You really could have just popped by work if it was bothering you so much. I think the house is fine and if not we could just fix it right?" Harry went straight to consoling mode. He still needed practice for containing Draco's freak outs.
"The owls must still be out because I haven't seen them all day. It was just—just sort of freaky. Obviously everything's fine now since Hero Boy is here."
Ignoring the nickname, Harry got up with more agility than Draco but quickly bent over to help his fallen lover. With the both of them safely standing, Harry gathered most of what he could of Draco into his arms and kissed the tip of his cold pink nose. "Love, I am so sorry. Let's get you some tea first hm?" He took both of Draco's hands, leading him into the living room and settling him on the sofa, wrapping him up in a Weasley blanket for good measure.
Back in the kitchen, before he prepared the tea, Harry took a quick look at the thermostat. 'Hm, what's it doing near 10 degrees Celsius? No wonder Draco's freezing, it's usually set to at least 21 degrees. Why would it have changed?' He turned the dial back to the proper position and went to get the tea tray.
"Sweetheart, did you by any chance turn the thermostat down to nine degrees Celsius? Maybe on accident? Did you run into it by chance or—throw something at it that could have knocked it?" Harry asked without trying to sound accusing.
Draco's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion "Thermostat? What's that?"
Harry put his face in one hand. "Draco, love, we've been over this. The thermostat controls the room's overall temperature. The lower the number the colder it feels, the higher, the warmer. 21 degrees Celsius is normal room temperature, but it was set at ten degrees. It's right there on the wall outside of the kitchen." Harry explained calmly.
Actually flushing pink in color Draco said simply, "Oh," before picking up an old Daily Prophet and pretending to read it.
"'Oh'? Is that it? Draco did you change it like this so that I would make your tea when I got home? Because I would have done it if you just asked." Harry said from the kitchen.
"I thought it was—a timer." Draco admitted with scarlet ears. "I was planning on baking you something but I noticed the timer on top of the stove wasn't working and, well you see my wand and, and, and—"
"You have a lot to learn young Padawan." Harry commented more to himself. But of course Draco heard him.
"What did you just call me?" Draco squawked. "How offended should I be; on a scale of 'cauldron bum' to 'Blast-Ended Skank'.
Chuckling, Harry pulled the milk from the fridge and added it to the service. He picked it up gently to bring it into the living room.
"Ridiculous, my little popsicle." Harry said smiling while he added precisely three lumps of sugar and a three-quarters spoonful of milk to Draco's cuppa. "You know I wouldn't have said anything to hurt or offend you. Just another muggle reference you need to catch up on. But more importantly, do you feel any warmer yet?"
Harrumphing, Draco sat back and assessed his current situation. "Yes, I suppose I can already feel the difference. Well, it's quite warm now isn't it?" With hat last declaration he jumped up and began stripping.
"No music this time?" Harry asked gleefully from his favorite rocking chair.
Suddenly Draco turned around, already having shed all of his shirts. He slunk sensuously towards the wooden rocker, pulling off his mittens with his teeth at the same time.
"T-that's c-completely not what I meant… This is how you lost your wand…!" harry trailed off blushing slightly under Draco's lustful stare.
Draco settled his half clothed body on Harry's lap. "Of course it is." He whispered sweetly in Harry's ear. "I need you to keep me warm now. It's a full time job I hear."
Harry had to hold back a wide grin. "I accept the terms and conditions of this position."
"You'll be enjoying a few positions later." Draco said nuzzling Harry's ear before nipping at it affectionately.
"But this will do perfectly for right now." Draco added, snuggling deeply into Harry's warm embrace, cuppa in hand.
