A short story I've written from the first challenge I've ever taken. The challenge was to take any character and any object from the list, and have them comeplety obsessed with it. Since I've totally butchered it, I offer my apologies in advance.
Also, I am still working on my next chapter of Tangled, but I'm just taking a short break to write something else.
Many thanks to DW of PKlovesDW , who told me where she got her challenges and encouraged me to try one.
After a long day of work, Harry came back to his flat in London and was met with an unusual sight. He cocked his head left and right, and even shook it as though doing so would dispel the image in front of him.
'Hm?' Draco looked up from where he lay sprawled over the sofa when he heard the sound of the door creaking open, and gazed at Harry curiously. 'Yes Harry, what is it?'
'I… Draco? What is that?' He pointed to the curiously shaped thing in Draco's hands.
'Ah yes, this. This wonderfully mysterious thing, which Muggles call a 'lava lamp'.' He turned it around in his hands and pressed his nose against the glass, watching the colourful blobs merge and separate while traversing from one side to the other.
Harry covered his snort of laughter with a loud cough. Draco, when fixated on something, was a most amusing sight. He gave the word 'obsession' to a whole new level.
Draco shook the lamp vigorously with both hands, this time seeing the blob of something dissolve into countless bubbles and suspend in whatever liquid it was encased in. The new object of his fixation was certainly something to ponder about, he mused. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Harry creeping closer, probably to snatch the thing out of Draco's hands and have himself a closer look.
'No!' Draco yanked the lava lamp closer to his chest and further away from Harry, all the while not taking his gaze away. Scooting closer to the side of the sofa that was farthest from the door, he absently rummaged in his pockets for something else to keep Harry entertained. With a tiny cry of triumph, he briefly set the lava lamp down on the wooden floor, next to his foot, and turned towards Harry.
'Don't think I didn't notice you laughing there, Mister Potter,' He narrowed his eyes at Harry who had the decency to look guilty, 'You know just as well as I do who's the one here who brings his obsessions with him everywhere he goes, and talks about it in his sleep, no less.'
Draco stretched out his closed fist to Harry, who watched it quite curiously. Harry, as if just noticing his action just now, vigorous shook his head and glared at Draco. 'No! No, Draco! The last time you introduced me to something new, it was all I talked about at work! You should have seen the faces of my work mates, they were positively dying to get away from 'Obsessive Potter'.
Draco did nothing but smirk wryly at Harry, shaking his fist enticingly.
Harry's eyes flickered towards the hidden object before focusing on his boyfriend again.
'Come on, Harry,' Draco spoke in low, husky tones, 'You know you want to.'
Harry once again stared at the object within Draco's palm. His fingers twitched.
Harry scrunched up his eyes and sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose. By all intents and purposes, it seemed that he was about to reject Draco's offer. But Draco knew it was his win when Harry's other hand reached toward Draco's own. He finally opened his palm and allowed Harry to take the object.
'Quite an interesting idea, really.' He remarked conversationally as Harry peeked open one eye to see what he had just discovered. 'I'm surprised that Wizards don't use this yet. I believe it's called a name tag.'
The next day, Ron opened the door to his office and put down the gigantic pile of paperwork that he had brought home and back to the office. Shaking his arms to increase the circulation in them, he rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck from side to side, and opened the door that led to Harry's adjoined office.
From there, he did several things.
He stared dumbly.
He closed his eyes and counted to ten, willing that what he saw just wasn't true.
When he opened them and saw that his nightmare was still there, he turned and quickly but quietly tiptoed back through the doorway. Unfortunately, his shoes squeaked on one of the steps and he froze, slowly turning around to check if Harry noticed him.
'Ah, you're finally here Ron!' Harry looked up from his desk, where he had placed the name tag to be studied closely. 'Come and have a look at what Draco gave to me yesterday! It's called a name tag.' He smiled widely and beckoned for Ron to sit on the chair opposite him.
Ron's lips twitched in what he hoped could be perceived as a smile, but was more likely to be a grimace. Inwardly cursing all the gods in this universe, and Malfoy for taking that stupid job at a Wizard novelty store, he made his way to the seat, cast several Cushioning charms on it, and settled down for Harry's long, long, longtalk on the new apple of his eye. He watched distantly as Harry excitedly chattered on. Ron caught something about plastic, carving and tracing letters.
Merlin, but he talked about those random things to anyone and everyone, even the criminals that he and Ron caught, and sometimes just the sight of Harry opening his mouth caused them to surrender without a fight. No need to subject themselves to more torture, they reasoned when being questioned by Ron.
He had hoped, since the end of Harry's last obsession a mere six days (it lasted nearly three weeks) ago, that he would be getting a little more time to relax and prepare himself for the next one.
It seemed that the universe just didn't love him the way it used to.
When Harry took a few seconds to catch his breath, Ron quickly excused himself with some lame excuse and all but Apparated back to his office. He shut the door and performed a recently learned locking spell that he contemplated teaching Harry about sometime in the future, but dismissed the notion a moment later. After all, he needed some protection from Obsessive Potter.
Ron wondered if he should warn Seamus and the others, but decided against it. The unspoken rule here was 'every man for himself', and for the poor fool who stepped into Harry's office next, that rule always applied, no matter what excuse he gave.
Sighing, Ron sat in his own seat, cracked his knuckles, and began to work. 'It was going to be a long day' had now become the understatement of the year.
My first challenge prompt, finished! I'm sorry for not elaborating on Draco's obsession, I was going for him being the one to introduce temptation to Harry. Please tell me what you thought of it, and whether or not I should keep doing these kinds of things or just stick to something else.
Please?
Lemo
