Potter,
Meet me on the astronomy tower at midnight
Harry frowned, flipping the note over and searching for a name, finding none. Emerald eyes scanned the Great Hall, seeking out anyone watching him.
"What's that mate?" Ron asked around a bite of eggs, using his fork to indicate the note in his hands.
"Oh, it's um, nothing" Harry said, stuffing the note into the pockets of his robes.
Ron shrugged, not pressing the subject and Harry was a bit grateful that Hermione wasn't there to interrogate him over the small matter. He felt a pair of eyes on him and looked up, brows furrowing in confusion as he still couldn't find anyone.
His eyes glance towards the Slytherin table, expecting to see a smug smirk or a taunting smile, but the snakes seemed far too caught up in their own conversations to notice him. At laughing from the end of his table eyes glanced towards Seamus and Dean, the new self proclaimed pranksters since the twins had left, but realized they were only looking at a new prank item they had brought from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
He pulled the note out once again, unfolding it under the table as he tried to determine whether or not he recognized the handwriting. He didn't. Biting his lip his eyes roamed the room once again. Sighing to himself he put the paper back into his pocket. He decided he'd go, whether it was a prank or not, knowing that his damn curiosity would drive him crazy until he found out.
-x-x-x-
"Potter, you're going to blow us up if you don't focus" Draco drawled, grabbing Harry's hand to stop him from almost adding the wrong ingredient once again. Harry felt a tingle go up his arm from the light touch of skin against skin before he hastily drew his hand back, murmuring a brief apology.
The Slytherin stared at him out of the corner of his eyes, thinking. "Alright" he sighed, setting down the cutting knife he held carefully as he turned to face the raven haired teen. Harry glanced to the front of the room, as they were at the very back, refusing to meet scrutinizing silver eyes. "Not that I really care, but what's wrong? I'm not sacrificing my potion's grade because you're distracted over something that's probably as trivial as what to wear on a date tonight."
Harry glared, though it was extremely ineffective as the blond merely raised a single pale eyebrow. "It's nothing" Harry murmured, reaching for the cutting knife only to have his hand batted away.
"You must be stupider than I thought if you actually think that I'm going to let you anywhere near a knife when you can't even manage to crush mandrake root correctly."
"I'm just distracted" Harry said, shrugging it off.
Silver eyes rolled, "Those are some very famous last words Potter" Draco said. "You don't want to tell me what's wrong? Fine. But don't let it affect your grade. Focus."
"Right, focus" Harry murmured, watching as Draco went back to cutting the dried gillyweed.
He had been distracted throughout most of the day, the possibilities of what could happen that night running through his mind, each scenario a bit more bizarre than the last. But honestly, he just couldn't fathom why anyone would go through the trouble of getting him to go to the astronomy tower at midnight, without even bothering to tell him who they were or why they wanted him there. He glanced at his watch; ten more hours.
Harry reached for the newt juice and moved to poor it in the potion; only to have it grabbed from him as a hand smacked the back of his head. "Ouch! What the hell was that for?" he hissed.
Draco smirked, eyes dancing with amusement as he turned the bottle over to show Harry the label that clearly read Essence of Squid, "Like I said, focus."
-x-x-x-
"What's got you so anxious?" Hermione questioned, marking her page before she closed the book.
"Nothing, why?" Harry asked distractedly, glancing once again at his watch.
Hermione smiled softly, "Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you've checked your watch at least five times in the last twenty minutes" she pointed out.
"Oh, um, yeah, Dean's got a radio and we were going to listen to the football game at nine since he really wants to hear it and I'm the only guy that knows what's actually going on."
Hermione laughed at that, but Harry could tell that she wasn't quite convinced. "Are you sure that's it?"
"Yeah, what else would it be?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I just thought . . . I don't know, but shouldn't you be going, it's five till?"
Harry nodded, figuring he might as well wait the remaining hours in his dorm than in the common room.
-x-x-x-
"You okay, mate? You're jumpy." Ron said as he took Harry's knight in chess. Harry knew that Seamus and Dean had gone off on some sort of date, leaving Ron and Harry the only ones in the dorm seeing as Neville was in the greenhouses.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just wish people would stop asking me that" Harry murmured as he moved his pawn to take Ron's bishop, only to have his queen stolen by a rook.
"Sorry mate" Ron said before adding "checkmate. You just seem a bit off, I was only worried."
Harry smiled a bit, helping Ron put up the pieces, "Thanks for the concern, but I promise, I'm fine."
"If you say so" Ron murmured. "I'm going down to the common room, 'Mione said she'd help me with my charms essay, you coming?"
"No" Harry said, "I think I'm going to stay and get some sleep or something."
"Alright then, if you're sure." Ron said, placing his chess set in his trunk before leaving the dorm.
Harry sighed once the door closed, flopping back onto his bed as he raised his wrist to his face, checking his watch; two more hours.
-x-x-x-
Harry walked quietly through the castle's empty corridors, ignoring the few still awake portraits' yells of 'who's there' or 'do you know what time it is?' when he'd accidently make a sound alerting them to his presence.
"Go the fuck to sleep!" One of the portraits shouted, making Harry jump a little as he hurried down the hallway towards the astronomy tower.
Harry paused outside the door, pondering whether or not he should just turn around and head back to his dorms. Reminding himself that he was a Gryffindor, and that he simply couldn't be left with his unsatisfied curiosity, he took off the invisibility cloak and stepped inside.
"Malfoy?" he breathed in shock as he saw the teen standing with his back towards him, looking over the grounds. The Slytherin turned around, blond hair and fair skin almost ethereal in the bright light of the moon. Draco regarded him with an inscrutable expression, remaining silent. "Look, if this is some kind of joke, I'm really not in the mood," Harry hissed, feeling embarrassed now.
"It's not a joke" Draco said quietly, crossing over to the Gryffindor.
"Then why did you ask me to meet you here without even telling me it was you?" Harry questioned.
Draco raised a pale eyebrow, "Would you have come?"
Harry shrugged, unsure whether he would have or not. "What did you want then?" he asked, genuinely curious.
Pale lips pursed, "I'm not sure, that's why I asked you here."
Harry stared at him blankly, "You asked me here, but you don't know why."
"No" Draco sighed, "I think I know why, I just need to be sure."
Emerald eyes narrowed, "Stop talking gibberish! What do you think you know?"
"I'm not sure yet." The blond said simply.
Harry ran a hand through raven locks in frustration, "Then how can you be sure."
"I have an idea."
"Well then, get on with-" Harry didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as warm lips descended onto his. The pressure was feather light, but firm as the blond slowly moved his lips against Harry's, drawing the younger teen into the kiss as he placed a gentle hand to the back of the Gryffindor's neck, deepening the kiss. Harry couldn't help the slight moan that escaped his throat as Draco slid his tongue against his, drawing back teasingly in an invitation for Harry to take the opportunity to explore Draco's mouth which he tentatively accepted. Soon the two had to pull away for need of air, their foreheads resting together as Draco's hand trailed from Harry's neck down to his slender waist.
"What the bloody hell Draco?" Harry whispered breathlessly, hardly realizing that he had used the Slytherin's first name, though the fact did not go unnoticed by the blond who's lips twitched in a small smile.
"I know why I asked you here." Draco murmured, stepping back and looking up at the stars before closing his eyes, collecting his thoughts.
"Why?"
"I . . . have feelings for you, strong ones, the opposite of the hatred I thought it was. I don't know, I guess somewhere during the war and afterwards, when we tried to put our differences aside, something . . . changed"
Harry stared at him, ignoring the warm feeling in his chest as he tried to think rationally. "It would never work out." He stated bluntly.
Draco looked at him, eyes intense and calculating with another emotion Harry couldn't quite identify. "Why not?"
"Because" Harry said with a long suffering sigh as though it should be obvious. "You're a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor, and we've hated each other since first year!"
"You're the one that's been all for inter-house unity lately, besides, we agreed to try and work things out at the beginning of the year."
"A friendship, maybe, but a relationship is just too . . . impossible!"
"Why?"
"We're just, I don't know. We'd be a media spectacle, is that what you want?" Harry demanded.
"I'm used to it, I could handle it, and since when have you been concerned with the media?" Draco countered.
"We're too different!"
The blond shrugged, "Opposites attract."
Harry frowned, closing his eyes briefly before staring hard into silver ones. "It wouldn't work. We were on bloody opposite sides of the war."
Draco stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the Gryffindor's waist as he placed a light kiss on rosy lips. "I know that, and you know that. And I'll probably be apologizing for and feeling guilty about that for the rest of my life. If you're trying to tell me that it wouldn't work out because you think that I'm a terrible person, don't beat around the bush. But, you and I both also know that you liked that kiss, and felt the same thing I did."
Harry rested his forehead against Draco's, their breath mingling. "I don't think you're a terrible person. You're not so evil. I'm not so good. Despite what the rest of the world thinks, there's more to us than just our houses and what we've done or haven't done. I'm . . . Merlin . . . I'm willing to give this, to give us, a try."
"I can't promise you that I'll be the perfect boyfriend." Draco warned, leaning back again to properly look into captivating emerald eyes, "but I promise that I'll try."
"That's all I ask" Harry said with a small smile, leaning in to meet warm, now familiar lips in a gentle kiss. They weren't sure where this was going, but they knew that wherever it was, they'd get there together.
AN: I hope you liked this! This was a giftfic for the awesome MaleXmale Goddess 101. Special thanks to Cheeky Slytherin Lass for giving me the idea. Tell me what you think!
Reviews are Love! =D