Subtle Serenading

"Ouch, shit! Pansy, what the hell?" Draco swore, shaking his smarting hand that was just rapped with a long ruler. He flexed his fingers, frowning as he blew on his red knuckles. His grey eyes were narrowed at his friend who was simply pacing before him, crossing her arms with the ruler clutched in her hands.

"Draco, darling, you're not doing it right." Said the girl, rolling her eyes as if it was totally obvious to the beginner-boy. "When you press the strings, you have to curve your fingers in order to press them down strong enough. Or else it won't have the right sound when you strum it."

With a huff, Draco returned his hand back to the frets, resting them in an easy G chord as he looked up at Pansy with a slightly bratty expression. "I'm still learning, no need to get all snarky with me." He muttered, before picking up volume. "Why are you teaching me anyways, how did you ever learn to play acoustic?" He asked suspiciously, wondering just how his closest girl friend had even picked up the guitar arts.

Pansy sat down on the small chair in front of him, crossing her legs pretentiously and crossing her arms. "Before my parents began following the Dark Lord, my father could do wonders on the guitar. That's how he wooed mum, you see. 'Magic Fingers' she would say, whenever she thought back to it. He taught me all I needed to know about the instrument." Pansy gave him a one-shouldered shrug and waved her ruler at Draco. "Go on then, keep going. You're never going to impress Potter with your ability to play two single chords mediocrely."

Draco scowled at her, before sighing and turning back to the worn but well-used guitar in his hands. Strumming lightly, he hummed the note to keep it in his mind. The things he did for Potter. Merlin.

'Right. Well. What?' Harry frowned as he paused in the entrance of courtyard, the single thought flashing in his mind without him wanting it. Outside was a picturesque day, no doubt. The clouds were scarce and the sunlight was streaming everywhere, each student outside soaking as much of it in. In fact, there were plenty of students milling around the grounds, which wasn't a surprise. What was surprising was who was outside doing what.

Draco Malfoy, Slytherin-extraordinaire was sitting on the fountain edge, surrounded by his friends. Well, yes. No biggie. That was an everyday occurrence. But what wasn't an everyday picture was the large acoustic guitar in his lap, the blonde's hands gently strumming chords absently with his hands as he occasionally glanced up at his friends and laughed. Harry felt his stomach squeeze uncomfortably tight as he stared in slight-horror at the completely serene expression on his face. The furrowed brows were gone and his face was devoid of anything nasty. Malfoy looked so happy being with his friends, with that instrument in his lap. 'Speaking of which, when the HELL did he learn how to play the guitar?' Seeing as they were in the middle of the courtyard, Harry figured if he just kept walking straight and ignored them, he wouldn't be drawn to look at the rare-happy-face of Draco Malfoy.

As Harry took his first few steps down out of the castle, the soft mindless chords suddenly turned into full out strumming as a song burst for from Draco's guitar. Harry was startled, but he pressed on, not wanting to gawk at the scene. It was a cheery tune, and Draco's posse had quieted around him, listening to the music. As Harry sped-walked past the group, he halted abruptly, jerking his head back to stare with incredulity at Draco, who had just opened his mouth to sing. SING.

"And I'm doing just fine
I'm always landing on my feet
In the nic of time
And by the skin of my teeth
I ain't gonna stress
Cause the worst ain't happened yet
Somethings watching over me
Like Sweet Serendipity."

Harry stopped, he stared, he did all the things he swore he would not do when passing Malfoy. Because he was singing. The idiotic, arrogant, unfortunatelydecentlyattractive Malfoy was sitting, playing the guitar, and singing. And the worst part of it all was that Malfoy had a voice like silk. The words rolled off of his tongue with ease, and without a hint of malice or the arrogant feel. It was innocent singing, and Malfoy was really, really good at it. But what hit Harry the most was not the voice, but the song. Feeling his brows rise up into his hairline, he fell his jaw drop slightly. That was a muggle song. He knew that song and its artist. He heard it on the radio sometimes in the Dursley's car. What on earth was Draco doing, singing a muggle song?!

As if the blond could tell that Harry was drilling holes into his forehead, Draco turned his head and stared Harry dead in the eye, a sly grin sliding onto his face to take over the sweet and innocent smile he had on before while singing. Harry could clearly see the glint in his eye as Draco strummed, staring back at him, with that stupid smirk on his face.

"Don't look fate can only find you
You can't choose for something to surprise you
Set sail without a destination
Just see where the wind will take you
You never know when you're gonna fall
But I'm not worried
No I'm not worried."

Harry suddenly felt the back of his neck heat up ridiculously as he kept up the staring contest between him and Malfoy. It was almost as if the blond was singing to him, even though that notion was completely ridiculous. The brunet swallowed, then tensed when Blaise and Pansy turned to look in the direction Draco was looking in. Turning quickly, he swiftly walked away, ignoring the 'Enjoyed that, Potter?' jeer coming from behind him. Harry shuddered, shaking his head. That was weird. Malfoy was weird.

The guitar. Was fucking. EVERYWHERE.

Literally. Everywhere Harry went, it was there. In the great hall, it was on the ground tucked close by Malfoy's feet, his dorm mates making sure to step over it carefully whenever they got up. In the hallways, it was slung on his back, a large, bulky case taking up most of Malfoy's body surface area. In the bloody classrooms, Malfoy had it propped up against the wall close to his desk, only to sling it back over his back when class was over. Harry had the strongest urge to go to it and grab it and dissect it until he figured out what was so frikken amazing about the damn instrument.

But see, that was only when Malfoy was not playing the damn thing. And that was around 5% of the time Harry saw him. The rest of the 95% was of blonde git sitting somewhere, standing somewhere, walking somewhere with the guitar in his hands, playing something, occasionally singing. What was he doing, was he proud that he could play the damn thing? Did he want to show off his talent to the world, to prove that he's just another person better than the rest of the world because now, he's not only filthy rich, but he can play a bloody guitar?

Harry stepped out of potions, sighing happily that after that awful class with Snape, he now had a double free period that he was planning spending in the quidditch pitch, hanging around with friends and maybe flying if no one had booked the court. However, the moment he walked out was the moment he stopped. Literally right across, right across, from him, was Draco Malfoy, leaning against the wall, the guitar in his hands and slung over his shoulders as he strummed. Pansy was standing next to him, a slightly amused expression on her face as she listened to him play. Harry, on the other hand, was astounded. Malfoy had the nerve to play EVERYWHERE. Once again frozen, Harry couldn't do much but stare at the blond who had opened his mouth to sing. Again.

"Maybe you can't hear me
But I feel like screaming when you're near me
Save me from your theories
At the very least just let me cry on you
All I wanna do is make you happy
All I wanna do is make you happy."

Biting his bottom lip, Harry furrowed his brows as he placed that song as another muggle song. Lately, most of the songs that Malfoy had been choosing to sing were from muggles, and if that didn't surprise Harry, he didn't know what did. And no, Harry did not like the sound of Malfoy's voice, and how it washed over him like some soothing blanket that was only covering him now despite past years of hate filled words.

Absolutely not.

Draco's head lifted and he caught Harry's eye, the same grin appearing on his face as he stilled his hands. "Hello, Potter." He said casually, Pansy shifting next to him, hiding a bemused grin.

Harry, not having planned to get caught, (but what gives? He was standing right in front of him, he should've known) blinked and frowned slightly at the other boy who seemed civil. "Malfoy." He said in return. "What are you doing?" He asked, wishing the other man knew that the question was not just aimed at his random songs and performances, but the state of Harry's current stomach and mental state.

Lifting one slender, blond brow, Draco stared. "I'm playing the guitar. Are you that blind?" He drawled. "Perhaps you should get those glasses checked out. I am right in front of you, anyways. If you can't see that then-"

"Just shut the hell up, Malfoy." Harry snapped at him quickly, rolling his eyes and walking away swiftly. What was he thinking, assuming that now Draco could play the guitar, he'd suddenly be nice? That was a ridiculous thought. Of course.

He completely missed the irritated look that took over Draco's face once his back was turned, Pansy's comforting hand on his shoulder as she began to suggest new songs.

Stepping out of Honeydukes, laden with sweets that would last him for the next few hours, Harry laughed at a joke Seamus was saying when he nearly stumbled, staring across the street at the blond boy, sitting upon a fence, a few of his friends around him, listening to him sing. This time, it was a melancholy, and soft song, completely fitting for this sleepy afternoon.

"I took my love down to violet hill
There we sat in snow
All that time he was silent still
Said if you love me, won't you let me know?
If you love me, won't you let me know?"

Draco swept his eyes over the street and when they landed on Harry, another expression graced his face. However, instead of the familiar grin, a smile-less look was what the brunet was provided with. Malfoy's face was full of meaning and something…something that Harry was terrified of. In fact, he could feel his eyes widen as he watched Draco blink and stumble on a chord, staring at Harry with an indescribable expression. Grabbing Seamus' sleeve, he quickly dragged him down the street, the soft voice of Malfoy's continued singing wafting off in the distance.

"Because I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter since I met you
Honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes, green eyes."

Harry blanched and backed out of the quidditch pitch as fast as he could.

"I wanna be beside him.
He wanna be admired.
You say "please don't make this harder."
No, I won't yet."

Harry stared, and stared, and stared at the boy who was sitting cross legged in the middle of the courtyard, his back against the fountain edge. 'He's gay now too?' He thought, before turning around and booking it. His heart was pounding a bit too much for this.

"You fill my heart with joy everyday
You make me smile more than words could ever say
You play my love like a Spanish guitar
Plucking the strings that connect to my heart
Take my hand and let the music play."

Harry had the sinking feeling that something was very, very wrong in this situation. Like, dreadfully wrong. How did he know?

Well.

The students were milling about the Great Hall, lunch coming to an end as students walked in and out, talking and joking. But Draco Malfoy, sitting pleasantly at his table, was strumming singing, his voice pack-full of emotion.

And Harry was sitting at his table as well, only fidgeting. Not pleasantly. Because Malfoy's eyes were boring into his own with every word that fell from his lips.

Harry swallowed, furrowing his brows as Draco's own eyes took on a slight hopeful look. The brunet's eyes widened. 'No way could…'

Racing around the castle, a thousand of thoughts were swimming in Harry's head at once.

'The ONE TIME I want to find him and he's NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. And yet every single damn second of my day for the past few weeks he's been EVERYWHERE I turn, DAMNIT!'

Throwing open the potions door, he frowned when it was bare except for an obviously-irritated Snape. "Potter, what the bl-"

"Sorry Professor, goodbye!" And with that, the door was shut and he was back on his way.

Heading swiftly for the dungeons, Harry caught sight of Pansy who was coincidentally stepping out of the doorway, her brows widening as she saw Potter catching her in the act of opening/closing the Slytherin entrance. "Potter!" she screeched. "You're not supposed to-"

"Where's Malfoy?" He demanded, disregarding her words, and watching her blink in surprise at the sudden question.

"Draco?" She repeated, as if she couldn't understand his urge to see him. Well, she wouldn't.

"Yes, Draco. Malfoy, him." Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Where is he?" he pressed, seeing her eyes widen.

The girl tried to hide a smile, biting her lip as she pointed back up the corridor from where Harry came from. "Astronomy tower." She said with a slight giggle, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

Sending her a strange look, he nodded quickly. "Thanks." He said, and turned around, rushing away, pursing his lips at the sound of laughter coming from the girl behind him as soon as he had left.

Pounding up the stairs of the tower, Harry had no damn clue why he was rushing. Hell, why was he doing this at all, anyways? Well, he knew why. Draco Malfoy and his sodding gorgeous voice was doing quite a number on Harry and he was going to do something about it. Officially. His feet lead the way up the steps and the closer he got to the top, the louder the music became.

Turns out, Malfoy must've been holding himself back in the halls and outside when he was around people when it came to his singing. Then, it was subdued and calculated. Full of meaning, yes, but on a nice performance-mode. Now that Malfoy was alone, he was singing full force, strumming loudly, and uncaring whether or not his voice was too rough or the strings hurt his fingers.

It sounded exhilarating.

"You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you'll find, love
I will possess your heart."

Malfoy's strong voice drifted out even through the closed door and Harry felt his chest tighten at the words. 'You've accomplished that much, you git.'

Arriving at the very top, panting from his sprint upwards, he grasped the handle and pushed the door open, striding in with a look of determination. He found Malfoy sprawled on the floor surrounded by chair cushions so that his butt didn't hurt. The guitar was safely in his lap as he stared out the window, singing. But at Harry's dramatic entrance, Draco jerked into movement, scrambling up to stand, clutching the guitar tightly as he stared at Harry with an expression of shock and slight nervousness.

"Potter, what-"

He was abruptly cut off by Harry grabbing his wrists and pulling the one with a guitar up to their eye level. "Was it for me?" he demanded.

Fear flashed in grey eyes as a storm brewed in them, quickly smothered by an ignorant look as Draco tried to sneer despite their close proximity. "What are you talking about, was what for y-"

"The guitar. The singing. Everything." Harry shook Draco's guitar hand and the blond clutched onto his instrument tightly, fearing it would fall if his nervous-state was anything to go by. "Were you singing for me?"

Green eyes honed in on Draco, and the Slytherin couldn't pull himself away even if he tried. Potter had him frozen, and his eyes were Veritaserum on their own. That was an interesting thought. 'Potter could probably get anyone to spill their darkest secrets just by staring at them…' Draco thought idly. He realized he hadn't responded, and Harry was talking once again.

"Malfoy." Came the voice, this time softer, and hesitant. Draco's attention was back onto Harry. And his face. And his lips. And, well. Shit. "All the songs you sang, every time you played…" Harry tried once again, slower, to get it through the other boy's head. "Was that all for me?" he asked for the third time.

Biting his lip, Draco figured he had no chance lying this time. Not with those eyes on him, Harry's breath caressing his – shit, when did he get so close? – and their bodies pressed close together. Closing his eyes to avoid humiliation and embarrassment, Draco nodded quickly, whispering a faint 'Yes.'

There wasn't even a reply. There were no words spoken, and Draco feared to open his eyes. They were still for about two seconds, but that was all Draco needed to know that Harry was going to laugh and leave and – press his soft lips against Draco's trembling ones, kissing him softly and carefully. Eyes snapping open, they took in Harry's form before sliding shut again, his lips falling into the rhythm of the kiss easily, his hand hesitatingly coming up to rest on Harry's forearm. It was soft and sweet, chaste and simple, but it was enough to leave Draco extremely bewildered when Harry pulled away, a question in his eyes.

"What…" he muttered, but Harry silenced him with yet another kiss, this one slightly more passionate than the other, hints of tongue sliding around his lips causing him to shiver lightly. "Potter-"

"I knew it." Harry said, pulling away to smile faintly at the shocked expression on Draco's face.

"You what?"

"I knew you were singing for me."

"…Good."

"Good?" A furrow of brows, as Harry looked at Draco in confusion, the blond boy already finding his voice.

"Yes, good. I've been learning for months and playing for you for weeks, it's about time you caught on, you slow wanker." Draco huffed with a roll of his eyes, trying to hide the fact that he was delighted on the inside.

Harry simply laughed and grabbed the back of Draco's neck, dragging him into another sweet, tongue-filled, kiss. "Good," Harry repeated with a grin as they pulled away after a minute. "Glad I finally realized."

Propping his feet up on the short brick wall before him, Harry leaned backwards and shifted his position, his arm moving to make itself more comfortable. The man being embraced by him adapted his position as well, half-nestling more into his arms while at the same time maneuvering his guitar in order for the end to not jab his lover in the side. It had happened once. On accident. Harry still had a bruise.

"Hey boy, why can't you carry on?
Is it 'cause you're just like your father?
Little tyke, like to tease for fun?
Well, you ain't gonna tease no other
Gonna make you a lover."

It was fast and peppy song, very contradictory to the lazy position the two boys were laid in in front of the entire student body as everyone took the time to soak in the sunlight that afternoon. Some people were sitting somewhere around the couple, listening in on Draco's fantastic voice – seeing as the blonde had quickly built up the reputation as Hogwarts' star guitarist – and others were simply hanging about with friends.

"Everybody's gonna love today
Gonna love today, gonna love today
Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today
Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to
Love love me, love love me, love love."

Harry smiled faintly at the lyrics, amused at how shameless Draco had taken onto singing obvious love songs in front of everyone. Not that he minded. It was rather cute. Turning his head, he pressed his nose into soft blonde hair and pressed his lips gently against Draco's temple, hearing the smile come onto the other's lips through the words falling from his mouth.

"Is that a request?" He asked in amusement, nuzzling Draco's ear with his nose.

Pausing in his song, Draco turned his head to look at him with a smirk and one brow raised. "Would you be willing to?" He asked back, staring down at the pair of lips that were suddenly very, very close.

"I already do." Harry said, leaning in for a kiss.

FIN

Songs Used:

Sweet Serendipity by: Lee Dewyze

All I Wanna Do Is Make You Happy by: MIKA

Violet Hill by: Coldplay

Green Eyes by: Coldplay

Whatever Happened by: The Strokes

Falling In Love by: Us The Duo

I Will Possess Your Heart by: Death Cab for Cutie

Love Today by: MIKA