Title: Talent Night

Pairing(s): H/D, a bit of B/N

Rating: PG-13. That's a first *snorts*

Summary: Draco's concerned over his boyfriend's constant avoidance. Just as he's about to start worrying, answers are given. One-shot.

Warnings: AU, characters return to their 7th year, no character dead (except for Voldemort and Sirius), fluffy and sweet. A visit to the dentist might be needed. Slight Ginny-bashing (at least inside Draco's head), probably a bit of crack regarding Severus, too. You'll see what I mean. This is unbeta-ed, but I'll fix anything I see, if you find one, please let me know! Thank you. Hopefully it's not too OOC, at least in characters interaction. The inside of their minds it's a different matter altogether :P

Disclaimer: Not one character in this story belongs to me, not for lack of wishing, though. It's all Rowling and those lovely lads at Warner, along whatever editorial…blah, blah, blah. You know this.

Also, the song used here it's not mine, it belong to one Reginald Kenneth Dwight, commonly known as Elton John. Hopefully, he won't mind the use of his song here, I just love it and this bunny arrived as I listened to it. I tweaked the lyrics just a bit to fit my story, but no disrespect was meant from it.

A/N: This was written for the birthday of my lovely friend Cristee. It has been a short time knowing her, but I love her dearly already. I hope you have fun today Hun, and that this little story is to your liking. I heart you! :) If you want, I'll make the Potter Edition for you ;)


Talent Night

For Cristee. By Silver Fireflies.

"Harry has been acting weird this past week," Draco thought while picking on his food. He wasn't really hungry, not while the thought of how his boyfriend had been avoiding him still haunted his mind. It had all started when Dumbledore announced that stupid talent thing. Some sort of talent night where students could find an "artistic release" -Draco thought with a sneer- to their need for expressing themselves. Draco reckoned it was more in the lines of releasing tensions left by the war. He and Harry had laughed at it at the moment, silently sharing a look across the Great Hall, but after the first night of presentations, Harry was silent and distant. Sure, they had cringed with some of the student attempts at singing, and laughed with some of the poetry that was read. Draco had an especially loud laugh for the one read by the Weaselette. The thick-skulled bint recited endless stanzas about Harry's eyes, hair, skin, et cetera ad infinitum. Since the tables on the Great Hall were removed and small tables were place instead, all facing one big stage where the high table usually was, Draco and Blaise sat on the table "next" to Harry's –without considering the not depreciable walking space between both tables-, where he was sitting with Longbottom and the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio. The Weasel glared at him, while Granger tightened the hand on his arm, but Longbottom turned to acknowledge them just as Harry did. They were serious, but Harry's eyes showed a bit of amusement at his jealousy.

"Malfoy," Harry said in a form of greeting.

"Potter"

"Longbottom," Apparently Blaise wasn't going to allow himself be ignored.

"Zabini," Longbottom said with a slight nod. Mirth barely contained behind his mask of indifference, he turned and watched the stage again, where the Weaselette was finally leaving. Observing Harry from the corner of his eye, he saw him almost thoughtful, as if the "performance" the ginger bint had put on was something important to consider. The gut-wrenching feeling that attempted to take over him has shoved roughly to the back of his mind. He couldn't and wouldn't doubt Harry based solely on a thoughtful gaze.

Draco and Harry had started dating shortly after returning to do their 7th year at Hogwarts. Not much people knew, of course; just a select few, mind you. That meant Blaise for him and Longbottom for Harry, much to Draco's surprise. He always thought Granger and the Weasel would be the ones Harry would like to tell, but apparently since they got together, they had drifted somewhat apart from each other, not that Draco minded that, he actually liked Longbottom, he always was a good friend for Harry, quiet and supportive, but never afraid to let Harry know a bit of his mind when he thought something wasn't good enough for his friend, or if he thought Harry was being daft about something. That was why Draco was so surprised when all Longbottom did when Harry told him was staring. Stared, and then stared some more, and after what appeared to Draco as an eternity, Longbottom smiled slowly, and said "Good for you Harry, you deserve whatever and whoever makes you happy. Malfoy," he rose his hand in a clear motion for a handshake, and all that kept Draco from being gob-smacked was his Malfoy training when the hand shaken was firm and strong, showing no hint of apprehension or nervousness, his eyes fixed on Draco's, clear with warning – "don't hurt him or you'll pay dearly." Neville Longbottom had earned Draco's respect without noticing it at that moment.

Blaise had been a whole different story. When he learnt about the relationship, he just smirked and looked at Draco with eyes than would've made Dumbledore proud, if he had seen that twinkle. Harry had shrugged and asked him not to tell anyone, and to talk to Longbottom if he needed to get it off his chest, seeing he was the only other person who knew. If possible, Blaise's eyes twinkled even harder and an almost Cheshire grin was plastered in his face. Turning to see Harry, Draco noticed he was smirking, and while a hot look on Harry, all he could think about was that he should've known.

Turning his gaze to the Gryffindor table, he watched Harry silently. He appeared to be having a small discussion with Longbottom, about some papers on the table he was pointing. Longbottom shook his head and began pointing at the paper himself. The rest of the table was ignoring them, except for that Weaselette bint. The way she still fawned over Harry made him cringe. And a desire to kill. Draco sighed, attracting the attention of Blaise, who was sitting next to him.

"Something the matter, Malfoy?" Asked Blaise, smirking.

"Shut up, Blaise." Draco gave him a half-hearted glare

"Oh come on, you've been in a nasty mood this week, so spill it, what's your bloody problem?"

Draco noticed that while he was still smirking, his eyes showed concern behind the careful indifference placed there. So he just looked at Blaise meaningfully, and sighed again.

"I'm sure there's no avoiding involved," was all Blaise said, and yet was enough for Draco to turn and look at him through narrowed eyes, the question in them obvious. Blaise's smirk grew wider as he turned to face his plate again, and said nothing.


Two more days had passed, and Draco was feeling lousy enough to go see his Godfather. While Severus suspected something between his godson and Potter, he hadn't said anything about it; instead he fixed Draco with a stare that conveyed everything he wasn't telling and let him be…for the time being. Draco knew that going to him was almost like the prey going willingly to the hunter, but right now he couldn't be arsed to care. He'd spill his guts if Severus could offer him some advice on what to do.

As he lifted his hand to knock on the door, this was opened; revealing a smiling Harry Potter coming out and being as grateful as Draco had ever seen him towards someone, and he had seen Harry thanking Dumbledore. This was a whole new level of weird. When Harry turned, he looked at Draco like it was the first time he laid eyes on him, while rapidly losing colour. He coughed, seemingly taking grasp on his now famous Gryffindor courage, and smiled at Draco.

"Hey Draco, fancy meeting you here! I was just leaving, so I'll see you later. Have a nice time!"

The last part was almost shouted as he turned on the corridor corner, leaving as fast as he could without looking impolite. Draco had a nagging feeling, one that was slowly feeling him with dread as he kept watching the now empty corridor.

"Was there something you wanted?" Draco startled and looked as his Godfather, wanting to extract out of him the reason of Harry's visit by any means necessary, but one raised eyebrow from the potions master stopped that line of thought.

"No, Uncle Sev. It's nothing important. My mother sends her regards; she wanted me to remind you to write her back, she's getting tired of waiting for your answer."

"Narcissa was never known for her patience. It would appear you took after her," Severus said with an almost imperceptible sneer.

"I don't know what you mean, Uncle Sev" –was all Draco said before turning to leave. This has been a bad idea; self-pity was better than subjecting himself to questioning gazes and raised eyebrows. As if Severus Snape would actually ask out-front what he wanted to know. He inwardly snorted at that. As he turned in the same corner he'd seen Harry leave, he heard his Godfather talking, "Tell your mother the answer to her letter will arrive in three more days."


It was talent night once again and Draco was feeling miserable. Not only was he forced to seat with the other Slytherins, since Blaise went AWOL sometime earlier in the day, but Harry and Longbottom were missing too. Looking around the room for his Godfather was a lost cause from the beginning. Obviously he would've deemed this whole night a waste of his time and an insult to his ears, so he hadn't showed at all.

Draco watched the performances without much interest; more occupied glancing around the great hall looking for that patch of stark-black messy hair, without any luck. He wasn't completely losing his time though, since whenever he wasn't looking for Harry, he took pleasure in directing his nastiest glares towards the Weaselette, who was also looking around for Gryffindor's Golden Boy.

Just when Draco was about to leave to sulk in private, Dumbledore appeared in the stage. He announced that the next one was the last performance of the night, and asked everyone to please enjoy it; while a white grand piano and a harp appeared on stage. As Dumbledore left the stage, Draco watched incredulously as Blaise Zabini and Neville Longbottom took the stage together, dressed on really nice robes, Blaise taking his seat in front of the harp, and Longbottom took his place by the piano. Everyone was silent, watching with rapt attention at the unlikely pair, and when Draco was about to think he'd seen it all, Severus Snape climbed the side stairs of the stage, guitar in hand; and walking beside him, was Harry carrying a stool. Draco almost laughed out loud when he heard the outraged cries of the Weasel, and watched the gob-smacked expression in Granger and the Weaselette's faces; but he wasn't above smirking at them. Returning his attention to the stage, he saw Harry cast a sonorous on himself, watching him the whole time. Fighting a blush, he stared back with all the poise he could muster.

"Err…hello. You're probably all wondering what I'm doing up here, accompanied by these gentleman; one of you more than the rest," Harry smiled at him here, and he felt his lips tug a little upwards in return. "The thing is, I've been trying to find a way to tell the way I feel to who has rapidly become the most important person in my life, and after I saw the talent night last week, I decided that showing it in front of everybody was the best course of action, so that no-one can have a doubt about how I feel and who I have this feelings for, isn't it a great idea?" Harry had a full grin now, and Draco felt the strain of the past week slowly fade away.

Noise broke out in the great hall after that, and taking advantage of that, Draco glanced to where both ginger heads were –the Weasel had a small frown, and the Weaselette was grinning madly and telling to everyone who would hear her how she knew Harry loved her and how happy they would be. Draco allowed her to rant about their future all she wanted, he would be the one having Harry in the end. Allowing himself a smile, he saw Granger looking at him with scrutinising eyes, and he could almost hear the cogwheels turning in her head. Smiling more openly, he turned to see Harry trying to make everyone shut up and failing grandly, until Severus glared from behind Harry and said a simple "Silence. Now." Grinning, Harry shot him a thankful look, as everyone took their seats again and quieted down, and Longbottom started to play a melody in the piano, accompanied soon after by Blaise accentuating some notes of the piano with his harp, and his Godfather with his guitar.

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but, boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

"Well, there's an understatement" –Draco thought with a snort. Harry had never hidden from anything, something more than proved with his win over the Dark Lord. He did like the way Harry's voice went through the lyrics; he wasn't a gifted singer, but the key he chose wasn't at all demanding of his voice. The money issue was probably in comparison to Draco's own wealth, and it should have been the first clue for the ginger bint, but she was sighing dreamily in her own bubble.

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
or a man who makes potions in a dark dungeon.
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
my gift is my song and this one's for you

Harry was too cute. There was no way Draco wouldn't snog him senseless when he finished. No-one ever had sung something for him, nor wrote a song with just him in mind. He smiled mischievously at the glare from the potions master, and a few chuckles were heard around the room, but Draco was too wrapped on Harry to notice much more.

And you can tell everybody this is your song,
it may be quite simple but
, now that it's done
I hope you don't mind,
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
how wonderful life is while you're in the world…

Draco's eyes were shining brightly now, betraying his carefully placed mask. He daren't even breathe, afraid to find this was all a dream and his mind was playing tricks on him again. As the instruments played the break from the lyrics, Harry looked at Draco, and his eyes were so full of emotion, he couldn't help the shiver than run through his back. What had he done to deserve such happiness? Surely there was a law against Malfoys being happy somewhere.

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss,
Well a few of the verses -well, they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on…

Harry was smiling at him. How had he missed that smile; Draco hadn't realised it until that moment, along with how much those green eyes affected him…nobody should have such beautiful and expressive eyes, baring his whole soul for the world to see. Not that he would ever admit to thinking that -or say it out loud-, even under Veritaserum.

So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do
You see, I've forgotten if they're grey or they're blue
Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen…

Trust Harry Potter to add ramblings to a song and make them sound good. Draco smirked, as he vowed to get back at Potter for saying the thing about his eyes. He could feel Blaise's smirk even if he wasn't looking at him, and knew Longbottom was hiding a smile himself. They had been there when he and Harry had discussed Draco's eyes. Harry swore his eye colour looked blue when he was happy, and Draco has denied it vehemently, saying Malfoys didn't do happy.

As Harry went through the chorus again, Draco turned to look at the table where his two nightmares sat. The weasel had a deeper frown, Granger looked almost smug, apparently she'd realised what was going on soon after he stopped looking at them, and the Weaselette looked confused. He thought he heard something like "but my eyes are brown!" but he wasn't completely sure. Not that he minded anyways, he thought feeling quite smug.

As the song reached its end, the Great Hall erupted in cheers and applauses, especially from the girls there. They were all teary eyed and murmuring about how they wished their boyfriends were as romantic and thoughtful with them. Draco watched Harry bow once for his audience and leap off the stage, making a beeline towards him, whilst his Godfather climbed down as well, and went to stand with the other professors quietly, stoically withstanding questioning looks, and defying with his glare –that looked particularly nasty this evening-, anyone who appeared like they wanted to comment on what had just happened.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the Weaselette stand up in an inviting manner, probably thinking Harry was going over her table, and rejoiced on the inside with her cry of disbelief at the sight of Harry going straight to the snakes table.

"Potter" Draco said, looking straight into his eyes. Just because he just sang the most beautiful song he's heard and it was for him he'd make it any easier for him; after all, he had avoided him for a week.

"Draco," Harry said, and waited for the surprised gasps to end. "I'm sorry for kind of avoiding you this week, but…"

"Kind of? Really?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow in a perfect arch.

"As I was saying, I'm sorry, but if I spent any amount of time with you, I would've told you what I was planning, since I can't hide anything easily," He grinned at the obvious reference to the song, and Draco found himself relaxing his pose a little. "And I wanted it to be a surprise for you, because, let's face it, you probably would've put a stop to the whole thing."

Draco couldn't help it. He smiled openly at Harry at his comment, eliciting more surprised gasps from the crowd around them. "Apparently you know me better than I would've thought, Harry;" he said, taking the greened eyed boy by the waist, to hold him closer. "You always did look down on my knowledge on things," Harry responded with a small smirk; and the blond felt Harry's arms around his own waist, pulling him even closer. "Do you think we've surprised them enough by now?" the question was breathed into his ear, the warm breath in his skin extracting a small gasp. "I don't reckon it's quite enough yet," He responded, grey eyes closing while he leant to kiss those rosy lips, the ones he'd missed more than anything else, the same ones he thought wouldn't be able to kiss again.


Blaise later informed him what happened after they kissed. He and Longbottom had made their way to the Weasel's table, and announced their own relationship. Draco snorted as he imagined the Weasel's face at that moment. Blaise smirked at him, and kept on informing the facts.

"The Weasel was about to explode. I'm quite sure I'd never seen that shade of purple on someone's face before; but Granger smiled at Neville and congratulated him. It took all of my poise to not look surprised at that." He stopped for a moment, looking straight into grey eyes. "Then, Neville and Granger had to physically restraint the Weaselette, who was about to turn the same colour as his brother when he saw you two kiss. Granger grabbed her wand before she could attempt to do something with it, and when she noticed no-one was going to support her in her endeavour, she started crying and left the Hall."

"Hmm. Interesting…What about the Weasel, then?" The blond asked, lifting a single eyebrow in a true Malfoy manner.

"He was too gob-smacked to even move," Blaise confided with a grin. "And when his brain was about to catch up, Granger hold his hand, and told him that Potter was happy. Incredibly, he stayed where he was and a nod was all he did to acknowledge her." Dark eyes looking into grey, he said "he probably will never like you, but he won't be giving you or Potter a hard time for it"

Draco looked thoughtful. Apparently, Granger had taken care of the Weasel's temper before he could even manifest it. She was interesting, to say the least. "Thank you, Blaise. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date under the sun. After all, I am the reason for its brightness," he finished with a smirk, standing up to leave the Slytherin's common room. Blaise's loud snort was all that accompanied him on his way out.


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