Disclaimer: Not mine, not ever... If Harry Potter was mine... I would not need to be studying for those damn finals.
A/N: Here is the Beta'd version! Much love and thanks to my beta, Edgar-A.-Poe and Exia!
I had a lot of fun writing this and really enjoyed it, I hope you guys like it too. Please review and tell me what you think, whether you liked it or not and stuff, it would so totally make my day :) Constructive criticism is always welcome!
Quick note: This is Post-Voldemort. Harry won etc. The boys are in seventh year.
Cheers! Read on!
Irresistibly Delicious
Chapter one: Midnight Trysts
"Can't. Bloody. Sleep."
Draco growled through clenched teeth. After hours of tossing and turning in his bed, it was safe to say that he was thoroughly frustrated. Of course, it didn't help that he only amassed a total of 5 hours of sleep in the past week.
Insomnia was a bitch.
Draco cringed at the thought of haggard circles appearing under his seductive eyes. It would not bode well with the ladies, not at all.
After another few minutes of internally debating whether to get up or not, the sleepless young boy made up his mind. There was no point staring up at his ceiling, it had lost its charm two nights ago.
Throwing Pansy's arm off his bare chest, Draco got up and threw on a cloak. As he started to head out towards the common room, a sleepy voice stopped him.
"Where you going, Drake?" Pansy's muffled voice drifted from his bed.
Draco took a deep breath before turning to face Pansy. The lack of sleep was most definitely making him irritable, but Pansy paid no attention. In fact, she found him rather adorable when he was irritated.
"The kitchens, Panse. Now don't let me disturb your beauty sleep," Draco scowled back.
"Mmmk. Can you get me some of those things... those... escargots?" asked Pansy with a horrible accent; her terrible pronunciation caused Draco to flinch.
"Snails? At one in the morning?!"
"Oh... that's what they are... And is there anything wrong with having snails at one in the morning? Or are there some Malfoy family rules that prohibit such an activity?" Pansy finally sat up, her hair messed, as she mock-glared at Malfoy.
She then smiled slyly and added, "Unless... you rather I suck on something else..."
Draco did not miss her intentions, but he felt slightly revolted by Pansy's seductive batting of eyelashes.
"No, thanks. Now if you don't mind…"
With that, Draco left, slamming the door and causing several boys to stir in their sleep.
--
"Are you sure, Dobby? I don't remember this step. In fact, I think you're supposed to add some eggs..." Harry asked uncertainly, hands inching towards the eggs, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Of course you don't! But Dobby understands if Master Harry doesn't trust Dobby, sir," the house-elf peered at Harry with this big, round eyes.
"Fine, fine! I believe you, but if this doesn't work out..." Harry trailed off, and gave Dobby a pointed look instead. He sighed and retracted his hand away from the eggs.
"Dobby is sure of it! Master Harry is a talented wizard! Dobby will go get the icing ready at once!" Without further ado, Dobby jumped up and rushed to and fro in the kitchen, infused with new enthusiasm.
"Wait!" Harry called out to Dobby's retreating back, but the little house-elf was too far gone to hear, leaving Harry to peer anxiously at the batter. A persistent feeling of unease settled itself in Harry's stomach. But... if Dobby says there are no eggs, who is he to argue?
Taking a deep breath and tightly shutting his eyes, "Here goes nothing..." Harry popped the cake batter into the oven and set the timer.
After almost an eternity of intense nail-chewing, lip-biting anxiousness, Harry became concerned with the still-not-rising and very dry cake in the oven.
"Isn't this damn thing supposed to rise?" Harry muttered to himself.
Harry's relief upon hearing the ding of the timer was immense, but short-lived.
The cake did not rise at all, and looked a bit clumpy, which was quite concerning.
"And great, Dobby is nowhere to be seen,"Harry thought, clueless at what to do with the cake. Harry groaned, "Argh, where did I go wrong this time?" while poking balefully at his cake.
"You left out the eggs, you twit," an arrogant voice answered Harry from behind.
Not expecting an answer, a very startled Harry whipped around so fast that he almost knocked over his cake, only to see a highly amused Draco Malfoy, in his pyjamas bottom and an unbuttoned cloak, revealing a marble expanse of a toned chest and stomach, and his blonde hair falling softly around his face.
"What are you doing here?" Harry bit out, trying to cover his surprise with annoyance.
It would not do well to show Malfoy surprise. Not to mention that he was right, and Dobby was wrong, and that it was the ferret boy who caught his mistake, it all made Harry slightly annoyed.
Malfoy raised and infuriatingly aristocratic eyebrow at Harry's tone.
"I'm hungry, moron. Why else would I be in the kitchen? To make breakfast for the whole school? Not bloody likely. YOU, on the other hand," a gleeful smile appears on Malfoy's face, "are here to bake, no, to learn how to bake. The bloody Boy-Who-Lived cannot bake a simple cake!" The blond boy's smirk was threatening to break into outright gleeful laughter, while the raven-haired boy reddened in embarrassment and anger.
"Shut up. I was trying new things out, being creative. And I'll have you know that girls admire a man who can bake!" Harry defended himself, trying to fight the blush threatening to bless his face.
Draco snorted, he couldn't help himself.
"Two mistakes: A, you're not a man, and B, you can't bake. So really, I don't see the point of you trying. By the way, since you're in such a nice, helpful, creative mood, get me some escargot and a chocolate cake, and no, not the cake you just butchered."
With a sneer, the Slytherin sat down and watched Harry; leaning back and crossing his arms as he observed the Gryffindor. Draco noticed that the young boy across from him was quite tall; of course not as tall as himself, but tall enough. The stress of Voldemort and schoolwork was still evident on Harry's body, as he was still very thin, but was beginning to gain some weight. Of course, even through the thinness, Draco could see Harry's chest and stomach were taut and toned...his musings were interrupted by Harry.
"Escargot?! Snails at one in the morning? What are you? French?" Harry looked at the other boy incredulously.
"Stop staring at me, the lovesick look is definitely not your forte. And the snails aren't for me, dimwit. Parkinson has questionable urges."
"Whoopa!" Harry mocked a whipping motion. "Whipped, Malfoy, whipped! Never thought I'd live to see Malfoy whipped by a girl... especially not Pansy."
Malfoy growled dangerously in this throat, he was no longer leaning back in his chair casually; rather, he was tense and glaring at the other boy.
"At least I can get a girl," Malfoy countered back.
"I can get a girl, too!" Harry was on the defensive; his chin jutted out defiantly. "For all you know, I could be baking this cake for a girl, and she can be waiting for me in bed right this instant!" Harry wondered where that came from.
Malfoy let out another very un-Malfoyish snort.
"Don't delude yourself, Potter. We both know very well there exists no such girl in your life. And even if there was a girl in your bed, you wouldn't be down here mourning over an un-baked cake." But before Harry could articulate a response, Malfoy continued on, in irritatingly arrogant tones. "As much as I love discussing your love life, or lack of, I want some sleep, so hurry up and get me my food."
"I'm not your bloody servant. Get your own stuff." Harry bristled, still very annoyed at Malfoy's last comment, but was at a loss for a comeback... after all, Malfoy was right. Damn the stupid git.
"I'm a Malfoy, a pureblood. For you to serve me, would be an honour that few can attain," Draco stated snootily. Even while sitting, Malfoy managed to peer down his nose at Harry.
"Oh yeah? You think?"
Without thinking, Harry grabbed his cake, the cake he painstakingly slaved over, and smeared it all over Draco's smirking face and platinum blond locks.
Stunned, neither boy moved for a minute.
Quickly recovering, Malfoy spluttered as he wiped his face as best as he could, but the cake wasn't quite done and consequently still quite doughy, only served to just spread more over Draco's face.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL, POTTER?!" a very indignant and cake-covered Draco howled. His hands twitching as he controlled himself not to sock Potter in the face, or hex him into oblivion. The thought of detention kept him from indulging in his desire.
"Don't know what you're complaining about, Ferret Boy. I personally think the cake completes your image quite nicely: an insufferable wimp." Harry, for his part, tried not to start laughing uncontrollably to avoid further antagonising the other boy; he had no desire to be cursed, but that didn't stop him from internally congratulating himself a job well done.
"Very mature, Potter, very mature," growled Draco. Harry just responded with a good-natured shrug.
Draco scowled and glared daggers at the bespectacled boy. Normally, this would scare the living daylights out of anyone, but coupled with the cake on Draco's face, the glare became rather comical.
"Here's your chocolate cake, your royal highness" Harry mockingly bowed low, and with a flourish, presented Malfoy with his cake.
Still glaring, Malfoy grounded out, "Why, I thank you, Scarhead. Where is my escargot then?" Barely contained anger dripped from each word.
"Meh, go get them yourself. Oh, and a suggestion, go clean yourself up first, Ferret Boy," Harry advised in a sage voice, while he helped himself to a forkful of Draco's scrumptious chocolate cake.
"You know what, a big FUCK YOU to you, Potter." Draco gave Harry the middle finger salute. "I'll tell Pansy you took her snails. You can deal with her. Oh and by the way, you can tell your imaginary girlfriend that–" Draco was cut off by Harry.
"For the love of Merlin, I do NOT have an imaginary girlfriend!"
"AHA! So you admit it, you can't get a girl!" Draco taunted with a gleeful smile, his anger and cake all forgotten.
Harry retorted back, "Unlike you, I don't whore my way through school"
"I don't whore Potter, I charm. Only people jealous of my charm call it whoring," Draco drawled lazily. "It's perfectly all right to be incapable of getting a girl, Potter. Crabbe and Goyle are still struggling in that department." Draco's barb was not missed by Harry Potter.
"I can get a girl if I wanted!" Harry could not believe that he was having this conversation with Malfoy, of all people.
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Wanna bet?" Harry challenged, but cringed inwardly, wondering where this would lead to.
Smirking, Draco said, "Eager to prove ourselves, are we? What do you want to bet on? Your firebolt?"
"HELL NO! What do I get if I win?"
After a moment of pondering, a scheming gleam came into Draco's grey eyes.
"Fine, let's say that whoever loses... has to sleep with Crabbe, Goyle or Bulstrode."
A look of utter revulsion was placed firmly on Harry's face. "That is just..." He shuddered.
"I thought so. We on?" Draco held out his hand, sneer firmly in place, fully expecting Harry not to accept.
Seeing the sneer, Harry steeled himself and shook on the bet. For the first time after first year, Harry accepted Malfoy's hand. As their hands connected, Harry noted with a surprise that Malfoy's hand was not as soft as he imagined but rather rough and calloused, like his own hand. Malfoy ended the handshake as he quickly pulled away. It then hit Harry what he agreed to. He realized that he would most likely regret this rash bet, but he'll let his later self to worry about it.
Malfoy was shocked, but was quickly covered by a smirk. This would be interesting.
"What are the rules, Malfoy?"
"No rules, you have to find ANY means of getting a girl to sleep with you within a month and I can employ any means to stop you. By the way, whores don't count."
Smirking one last time, Malfoy left the kitchen, chocolate cake and escargot forgotten.
--
"Drake, is that you?" Pansy asked from Draco's bed.
"No, it's Dumbledore, you cow," Draco replied back sarcastically, heading towards the showers.
"Gosh, what got your knickers in a knot?" she asked as she got up and started walking towards the boy, clad in only a sheer nightgown. As she got closer she noticed there was something sticky and gooey in Draco's hair.
"Is that... dough in your hair?" She raised a delicately arched eyebrow as the boy started disrobing in front of her. Even after years of seeing Malfoy naked, Pansy still couldn't help but admire his slender, but toned body.
"Actually, it's Potter's pathetic excuse of a cake," he said as he disappeared into a shower stall.
"What's it doing on you?" Pansy leaned on the door frame, greatly intrigued.
Draco let out a frustrated sigh; women never knew when to shut up.
There was a moment of silence as Draco just enjoyed the stream of hot water hitting his skin. All tension flowed out of his muscles as the water flowed down his body.
"Because, Pansy," he began slowly, as if talking to a toddler, "Potter and I have nightly trysts in the kitchen where we take turn stuffing each others' faces with under-baked cakes."
Pansy gave a mock-sigh of wistfulness and clasped her hands to her heart, "If only you were that creative with me."
Draco rolled his eyes, and proceeded to scrub furiously at his hair to wash out the cake. He studiously ignored Pansy's inane chatter as he washed the rest of himself.
"Turn around, I'm coming out."
"Why such a prude? There's nothing I haven't seen..." Pansy grinned slyly, but turned around nonetheless. "Hmm... did you say that Potter was baking?" Pansy asked thoughtfully.
"No, he was watching this pan of mush, that he calls a cake, in the oven"
"Awww, Potter can bake!"
"ARGH! Have you not been listening to me, Panse? I have explicitly implied that Potter CANNOT bake –" Draco stopped short as he took notice of Pansy's starry expression.
"Do you actually find that endearing?" Draco asked in bewilderment.
"Of course! Think about it, if Potter was your boyfriend," upon seeing Malfoy's face, Pansy quickly added in, "hypothetically speaking of course. Now imagine you two had a fight and to make it up to you, he bakes a box of your favourite brownies. It'll make his apologies all that more sincere, especially since the brownies are baked with his love..." She trailed off dreamily, but was rudely interrupted by a fake retching sound.
"That was nauseatingly sweet. LOOK! I even got cavities listening to that." Malfoy's face popped in front of her with his mouth wide open.
Pansy just sniffed daintily and turned to leave, "You do not have a single romantic bone in your body. You're insufferable."
Malfoy was about to respond when she suddenly remembered something.
She turned back to Draco, who only had a towel wrapped around his waist, and narrowed her dark eyes dangerously, effectively cutting off any reply from the boy.
"Where is my escargot?"
"It's escargot. You don't pronounce the T"
"Whatever. Where is it?"
"Potter took it. Nothing I could do, he was threatening me with his sub-standard cake"
"Potter has weird urges in the morning too, eh? And he bakes... hmm what else can he do?" Pansy pondered to herself; once again, the topic of Potter pushed the escargots from her mind.
"He can also make brownies too!" Draco mocked her in a high pitch voice, all this talk about Scarhead was not making him happy. Only time people could talk to him about Potter was to insult the stupid Boy-Who-Refused-to-Die.
"Why you don't you go and shag him already, Panse?" Draco bit out as he stormed past Pansy back to his bed.
"Aw, are you jealous, ickle Drakie-poo?" Pansy followed him with her arms crossed and a mischievous grin on her face.
She leaned casually against the bedpost as she watched Draco look for a towel to dry his hair.
"No," Malfoy scowled as he found a towel and proceeded to dry his hair, "go get me some coffee. I need to stay awake and take vengeance on Potter for ruining my good looks. Don't deny it Pansy, you think I'm good looking," Draco added in when he saw Pansy about to protest.
"No way. You're gonna kill yourself if you don't get some sleep. Besides, why didn't you get your coffee when you were in the kitchen?" Pansy argued.
A moment of silence and then, "Bah, you know, if Voldemort used weapons of mass destruction or something equally devastating... like a sleepless potion, he would've won the war."
"Don't be daft, Panse, that's just... preposterous..." Draco trailed off, but a gleam was present in his stormy grey eyes. "Tomorrow's prophet will be most enlightening" Draco muttered to himself. With that, Draco jumped into action and hurriedly pushed a very confused Pansy out the door.
"See you at breakfast!" he said as he slammed the door in her face.
"But, what about your coffee?" she called back from the other side of the door.
"Forget it! I want to live another day!" Draco yelled back, not caring who he woke up.
He had a plan. Potter was going to rue the day he stuffed ... dough in Malfoy's hair. Oh would he ever rue that day.
--
A/N: What do think? Now before you go elsewhere, click that little button at the bottom and review!! Thanks for taking your time to read this. It's much appreciated!