CHAPTER THREE

When Harry woke up the next morning, the bed was empty. He stripped off yesterday's clothes that he'd slept in, gathered new ones, stared at the shower for a long minute, and cast a cleaning charm instead. After he'd dressed, he stumbled outside to see if any of the others were up.

Apparently he wasn't an early riser. Everyone else was sitting around the coffee table which was covered in breakfast foods. Ron was stuffing his face and Hermione was reading. Pansy and Blaise were both practicing fellatio on their food. Harry blushed and walked towards an empty seat, taking a detour to brush against Draco's legs.

He sat down and started eating before he realised what he'd done and turned worried eyes on Draco. To his relief, Draco just smirked and shook his head a little. Harry managed a shy, apologetic smile and continued eating. When they'd all finally eaten and were ready for the day, Harry was surprised to find Draco by his side.

'What did I tell you about supressing your instincts?'

'Erm, not to?'

'So why were you looking so worried?'

'I just, God Draco, this is so weird for me. I never knew this stuff even happened and now I have all these instincts and I just…'

As he trailed off, Draco checked behind him. Harry's tail was twitching back and forth, low and agitated. Draco sighed and took Harry's elbow to lead him into a small alcove.

'You need to do what your body is telling you to do. It'll be okay, I promise. Alright?'

Harry nodded and, before Draco could lead them back into the hall, he leant forward and rubbed his body against Draco's, butting his head on the boy's chin. Even with the express permission, when Harry pulled back he was worried he'd crossed a line. Luckily, Draco just chuckled and reached up to scratch behind Harry's ears.

'Good boy.'

Harry rolled his eyes but let himself be pulled back into the hall and on their way to class.

They soon caught up to the others and Harry found Pansy's arm tucking around his elbow.

'I want to apologise, Harry.'

She caught his surprised look and hurried on.

'We decided first names all round would be easier and less confusing, but listen, I wanted to apologise for the other night. Not for what we did because, well, you're probably just going to have to get used to that, but I shouldn't have said what I did. So I'm sorry for that, okay?'

'Oh, erm, alright. Thank you.'

Pansy nodded. 'Seriously though, don't worry. Draco's always been intrigued by you. I mean, I think you both know there's always been something there, but I always thought Draco would only need a little push to turn the something into affection. He won't care how experienced or inexperienced you are. He's got enough experience for you both, but he won't be a dick about it.'

She saw Harry was bright red again and patted his arm.

'In the interests of full disclosure, Draco and I dated a while back. We lost our virginity to each other and then we got together again later. I'm only telling you so you know how I got my info, he's not a boaster and this was all before he realised he was very fond of a piece of anatomy that I am lacking, so don't you worry your pretty little head, okay?'

Harry nodded again, slightly dumbstruck. Pansy chuckled, pressed a kiss to his cheek, and darted off to grope Blaise's arse.

They split off at one of the staircases, the Slytherins going to Charms and the Gryffindors heading out to the greenhouses for Herbology. When he saw Draco's retreating back, Harry felt his chest grow tight. He darted forward and rubbed his chest on Draco's arm before hurrying back to his friends, a blush heavy on his cheeks.

'It's not that embarrassing, you know,' said Ron.

'Yeah? How do you think you'd feel?'

'True, but it could be much worse,' Ron chuckled, 'Charlie dated a girl a while back who had your condition. She'd given up on finding her mate and they were just having a fling. Only trouble was, she was some sort of a spider animagus. He said she was always looking thoughtfully at his neck after they had sex.'

Harry laughed and by that point they'd reached the greenhouses. Professor Sprout had them trying to prune this practically sentient vine so there wasn't much time for thinking until the lesson was over. As they trekked up to Transfiguration, Harry listened to Ron and Hermione chat and tried to stop feeling so odd.

'What do you think of them, Harry?'

Harry raised his eyebrows, trying to remember the conversation so he could answer Hermione.

'I think, I…who?'

'About Blaise and Pansy, mate. They're a bit full on, don't you reckon?'

'Oh,' Harry flushed as he remembered the previous evening, 'Yeah, apparently they're always like that.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, Draco reckons you just learn to block it out.'

'Right. Lucky you're a quick learner Hermione.'

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and led them into the classroom. Harry was about to follow when he felt a rough hand on his tail. He turned around to be faced with a huge seventh year Ravenclaw.

'Yes?'

The other boy sneered and yanked his tail.

'Ow! What the-Get off me.'

'Just checking if it was real.'

'Whether it is or isn't is none of your business. Back off.'

By now Harry had gotten his wand out and was brandishing it threateningly. The other boy just gave his tail one more tug, sneered, and left. Harry frowned at his back for a moment before hurrying in to sit next to Ron.

'Alright, mate?'

'Yeah, just some idiot.'

Ron nodded and they tried to focus on their lesson.

Harry tried not to think about the incident for the rest of the day and was successful until has back with Draco in their common room. As usual, when he scented the other boy, his tail started wagging and this time it pulled at the muscles around it. Draco noticed Harry's pained look and came straight over.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing, I'm fine.'

Draco was silent.

'It was just some idiot who pulled on my tail before Transfiguration. The muscles are a little sore, is all.'

'Come here then.'

Harry shuffled over to Draco's side and allowed the other boy to push him facedown onto the couch. He jumped a little when he felt Draco sit on his bottom and again when the boy tugged his shirt up but he spoke up when Draco started pushing his trousers down.

'What are you doing?'

'Shh, Harry, I'm taking care of you.'

And suddenly Draco's cool fingers were massaging all around Harry's sore tail and it felt amazing. It felt so good he stopped caring about the top part of his backside being on display or how it would look when the other four got back and saw them sitting like this. Unbidden, a loud purr welled up in his throat and filled up the room. Draco chuckled a kissed the skin just above Harry's tail before getting back to his massage. Harry was in too much of a pleasure filled daze to comment.

They stayed like that until the others came in.

'Alright there, Harry?'

Harry jumped violently at Ron's question and his purr stuttered into silence, but Draco held him still. He twisted his neck to see the Hermione roll her eyes and Pansy wink. Feeling his face heat up, Harry buried it back in the cushion and tried to pretend the others weren't there. Draco just kept rubbing at his skin, massaging his entire back now.

'What happened?' asked Hermione.

'Some wanker pulled on his tail,' said Draco.

'Arsehole.' Surprisingly came from Blaise, and was particularly vicious.

'But he's feeling much better now, can't you tell?'

Harry realised he was purring again and, deciding to give his dignity up for a lost cause tonight, relaxed into it. He barely even flinched when Hermione sat next to his head and petted his ears for a moment.