Monday, 5th August 1996, St Mungo's Inoculation Room
The next morning at breakfast, both boys were rather grumpy, as they already had been doing the hourly temperature checks since the afternoon two days before. Draco had especially become irritable, since, unlike Harry, he had not been able to fall asleep as easily without the magical fever.
At least, sometime during the night, the blisters had stopped leaking the purple liquid, so that Draco gave Harry the healing potion after breakfast. The blond had already taken the potion the previous day at lunch. With the flow of purple pus-blood liquid stopped, Draco started to change the bed sheets.
Harry was meanwhile resting on the sofa, waiting for the blond to finish his task, so that the two boys could take a shower together. Originally, Harry had wanted to shower alone, but when he had gotten out of the bed, he had not been able to walk or stand on his own. Draco had to support him walking to and from the kitchen. But at least I can eat on my own again, Harry thought. Besides, Malfoy isn't making a big deal out of still having to help me. I don't think that I would have been able to scrub off the blisters on my back on my own anyway.
Who would have thought that Malfoy is able to change the bed sheets on his own without complaining? Harry thought, amused. Even if he needs longer than it would take me to change them. But then, I would not be of any help in my current state and he mostly doesn't change his own sheets without the help of magic or a house-elf. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was already ten minutes after eight. Maybe we should get the next measurement out of the way. With the two of us sharing the shower, it will mostly take longer than twenty minutes, especially if Draco also has to help my dry myself.
Draco agreed to Harry's suggestion to move up the next check. Though, he asked Harry to do it on the sofa to not sully to fresh sheets with the crusted pus and blood mix on Harry's skin. It was a very tempting position for Harry to be in, Draco found. If Harry being on his hands and knees had been a seductive sight before, then the other boy lying across the armrest, face down, ass up was even more tempting for the blond. Not even adding that he now knew how it felt like to be intimate with Harry.
It's a good thing that Potter can't see my face right now, Draco thought, looking down at his half-erect cock. Neither of them were wearing any clothing, as the Healers insisted that they stay naked until Harry's temperature had dropped under the thirty-nine centigrade mark. Though, they both had agreed to at least cover themselves up while eating breakfast. Not that the hospital gown would have allowed Draco to cover his arousal effectively; however it would have made it a little less obvious.
Why did I offer again to shower with him? he asked himself rhetorically. Or maybe I should ask myself why did I allow him to fuck me? Shit, it was much easier to not look at his body before we had sex. Think of Madam Pomfrey in a bikini, Draco. Her together with Dumbledore naked in the hospital wing.
The last image finally did the trick. Let's just hope that it will work again in the shower. A naked and wet Potter will be a very tempting Potter. Think about Dumbledore. A naked Dumbledore, Draco! the blond admonished himself. Draco quickly inserted the thermometer before Harry could turn around and ask why he needed so long for simply inserting the thermometer, something which he had done many times before.
Harry had similar problems to Draco, only that it was less worse for him as he could not remember having slept with the blond the day before. Still, Harry too felt that his current position was even more sexually exposing than when he had been on his hands and knees. This new, even more submissive pose gave Harry a completely new level of embarrassment.
Though, I now finally know why Seamus was so often tempted to fuck Dean, Harry thought. With all the temperature measurements and those thermometers which resemble dildos more than anything else and how one has to always expose their ass in such a sexual position, it would be very hard to not give in to temptation. It's a good thing that I'm not to take Malfoy's temperature or I might be tempted to do more than I should, with how nice Malfoy's ass looked before when he bent down to change the sheets, he thought, while his cock got rather interested at the image of a naked Draco stretched over the sofa just like he was while he positioned the thermometer at the blond's entrance to fuck him with it before he fucked Draco with his cock.
Okay, this is not helping. Those damn dildo-resembling thermometers, Harry cursed as Draco finally shoved in the thermometer, stimulating his prostate and therefore making his erection worse. Think about Snape and Filch snogging. Urgh! But at least it did the trick, Harry thought, relieved.
Harry's current temperature turned out to be the magical limit of thirty-nine centigrade for Draco to still have to be close to Harry without wearing the gown. Typical, Potter, Draco thought. Of course his temperature has to be only a tenth of a degree over the line set by the Healers. Not that the gown will be of much use in the showers... Damn! Draco thought bitterly, before he informed Harry of his current temperature and walked away to his bedside table to notate the result.
When Draco was finished and composed again—having chanted the mantra of Naked Dumbledore!—he walked over to Harry to help the still weak boy towards the bathroom, so that they both could have their shower.
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The shower turned out to be very, very awkward for the both of them. Not only were both boys plagued by their own overly active sexual imaginations; Harry was especially at a loss to explain why he had suddenly started to fantasise about doing stuff with Draco Malfoy. It also was very hard to shower together when Harry could only stand on his own for a few seconds at a time and St Mungo's had not had the foresight to at least install some handles in the shower for Harry to support himself.
In short, Draco had a very difficult time in the shower. At first, he had to help Harry stand by holding his hips, so that the other boy could wash his upper body and his groin region on his own, before Draco had to wash the brunet's hair and back. The trickiest part was when he had to kneel down in front of Harry to wash his legs, supporting Harry with his left hand and having Harry's cock right in front of his face. To stay upright, Harry had to hold on to Draco's shoulders which forced the blond to hold onto Harry's ass instead of his waist, as his arms were not long enough to reach the waist while nearly all of Harry's weight rested on his shoulders. In short, both of their faces were a most unbecoming and deep shade of red during the whole procedure, still chanting their personal mantras of 'Naked Snape!' and 'Naked Dumbledore!' respectively to not get aroused.
When Draco was finally finished with washing Harry, he helped the other boy out of the shower and seated him on the toilet before he got him a towel, so that Harry could start drying himself. In the meantime, Draco went back into the shower to wash himself, turning his back to Harry, so that his mind would not be tempted too much with the picture of a mostly naked and wet Harry before him. By the time Draco was finished, Harry already had dried himself, his towel lying in his lap and covering his groin.
When he had dried himself, Draco grabbed a fresh gown for himself, not wanting to be dressed only in a tiny white towel with a naked Harry near him, even though they both had been naked for the last two days. In the hopes that Harry's temperature would be under the thirty-nine centigrade mark, he got also a gown for Harry.
"Say, Malfoy. Where did you get that hickey?" Harry asked Draco, while he unfolded his own hospital gown. When the blond had dried himself, Harry had tried his hardest to look anywhere but at Draco's ass and cock, so he saw the dark shadow on the left side of his neck when he focused on the blond's face. He had not notice it before and wondered how the blond had gotten one when they had been isolated in here for the last five days.
Oh, shit, was all Draco thought. I'd totally forgotten about that thing. Why can't they allow us to bring our wands? This way I could have at least cast a Concealing Charm to hide it, Draco thought, used to casting magic even during the holidays as he lived with his parents so the Ministry could not tell which of them had cast the spell. What to tell Harry though? Come on, Draco. Think!
Seeing Harry's still exposed chest with the healing blister wounds, he suddenly got an idea. "Ehm, this is the healing wound from a dragon pox blister I got there. While you were out from the fever, I developed one there," he said, hoping that Harry would not notice that usually the blisters are much smaller than the size of a love bite, but he could always tell him later on that it had not been one but many blisters forming a cluster there. It wasn't like he had not gotten some dragon pox blisters himself during his reinoculation. Only, most of them had appeared on his legs and had already healed with the help of the potion the Healers had left for them.
"Oh, okay," Harry replied to the weak explanation, though he seemed not to wholly buy it as his voice was still a bit disbelieving. It was unusual for Malfoy to stutter, so Harry was still a bit suspicious. Draco was only relieved that Harry did not ask any further questions and simply dressed himself in the new gown.
After both of them had brushed their teeth, with Draco having to help Harry stand, as the boy had been overcome by a dizzy spell and trying to support himself with one hand had not been enough to keep him upright.
Draco was more than happy as they finally left the bathroom, each of them covered up in their own gown. All in all, the whole shower had gone over rather well, but then Draco had been rather busy helping Harry stand and the other time Harry had been outside of the shower waiting for him to finish. It would have been much worse if Potter had not been able to wash most of his own body himself, Draco thought.
Harry, on the hand, had found the shower awkward too, though he had rather liked the feeling of Draco washing his hair. But in the end, Harry came to the conclusion that the shower could have been much worse.
To Draco's relief, the nine-thirty measurement confirmed that Harry's temperature had dropped to thirty-eight-point-nine centigrade, meaning they could leave their gowns on. As they had not gotten much sleep during the night—how could they with hourly temperature checks?—they were rather tired and Draco started to get grumpy, now that the feared shower, and the accompanied adrenalin rush, was over.
So, to stay awake, the two of them decided to play some rounds of Exploding Snap. The noise of the game would at least be able to keep them relatively awake for the next two hours or so, while they would not need to talk to each other in their already irritated states and end up disrupting the peace agreement by accidentally saying something the other did not like—making the situation escalate out of hand because they could not think clearly. So, playing Exploding Snap was a safer activity than talking at the moment, even if so far they had gotten along rather well.
After lunch, Harry would have liked to read another of the stories in the wizarding fairy tale book, but neither he nor Draco were awake enough to be able to make sense out of the letters, so they decided to spend the afternoon napping as much as they could with having to get up every hour. At least Harry's temperature was still sinking, even if the process was very, very slow. The two of them could not wait for Harry to get under the thirty-eight-point-five mark, but with how long it had taken for Harry to get to thirty-eight-point-seven centigrade, they feared that they would not be getting any sleep tonight either.
In the late afternoon, the two of them did not know what to do with themselves. As Draco had gotten even crankier than before, Harry feared that talking would most likely end up in a shouting match, as Harry would surely say something which would irritate or anger the blond. The two of them were after all very good at getting on each other's nerves.
In the end, the two spent the time until dinner listening to the radio, some more napping and thinking about things. Draco, especially, was thinking about yesterday afternoon's events. He did not know why in Merlin's name he had allowed Potter to fuck him. The fact remained that the other boy had been in a fever-induced daze—which made Draco feel bad, as if he had taken advantage of the ill boy, even if Harry had been the one to make the first move and had been the one in charge the whole time. It still felt wrong to the blond. But when it happened, Draco had been taken by surprise and had not been able to think clearly with the lack of sleep and the fever he had gotten.
But now, when Harry did not even remember what had taken place only a day ago, Draco felt wrong. He would not deny that he would not say 'No' if Harry offered him another opportunity, but he would only take it if it was offered freely, while Harry would know what he was doing. He now knew that the sex would be great either way and his sexual fantasies starring Harry would be even stronger than before, but he wanted to share the memory with Harry too.
I really would like to have a new start with him. Though, I fear that once we leave this room everything will change back to as it has been up until now. It's not like there isn't a Dark Lord out there who wants to kill Potter, Draco thought sadly with a sigh.
After dinner, the two boys talked about trivial matters, risking a fight to not be a slave to the boredom they had before dinner, besides the short naps seemed to have lightened Draco's mood a bit. Sometime during their talk, Harry asked Draco out of curiosity if magical amusement parks existed, which the blond denied. So, Harry introduced him to the idea of Disneyland, mentioning that it was where some of the most popular fairy tale figures came alive with people dressing up in costumes and that there was a parade of them every day so that all the kids could see their favourite characters.
Funnily enough, they both got very excited planning a magical version of Disneyland. Harry was not surprised when Draco insisted that a magical Disneyland would have to have dragons. Though, they had a good laugh about people dressing up as the wizarding equivalent of the popular Disney figures.
The thought of young people dressing up as Dumbledore to get some extra pocket money was so hilarious that Harry did not even scold Draco for saying that Weasley would surely make a poor copy of the old headmaster with his ginger hair sticking out under the wig. That led to the conversation about the use of the Polyjuice Potion. Both of them agreed that Dumbledore's would most likely taste like a mix of lemon drops—considering how much the headmaster loved them—and earwax or old socks or something else detestable.
Both of them got very restless after the seven-thirty temperature check showed a temperature of thirty-eight-point-five centigrade for the first time. Only one more tenth of a degree and we finally will be rid of those stupid hourly checks, both boys thought. But, of course, with how slowly Harry's temperature had decreased over the last hours, at eight-thirty, they were still stuck with the magical thirty-eight-point-five centigrade mark. It took another six hours before Harry's temperature had finally decreased the magical tenth of a degree. Both boys were more than relieved when at two-thirty they could finally start to sleep for more than one mere hour at a time.
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Tuesday, 6th August 1996, St Mungo's Inoculation Room
When the clock woke them again at half past seven on Tuesday morning, both teens were annoyed to be awoken after only five hours of sleep. So, the two only made a quick trip to the bathroom before they checked the temperature and decided to skip breakfast in favour of sleeping a little longer. Neither of them cared about eating anything as they were just too exhausted and sleep-deprived to get up and sit at the kitchen table, sleep was far more important for them at the moment.
Around one in the afternoon, both boys awoke again, Harry being wakened by the movements Draco made while stretching himself like a cat. After both covered themselves in a fresh hospital gown and had their trip to the bathroom, they sat down at the kitchen table to eat lunch.
"I just hope that we will be able to leave this afternoon," Harry said, after he took a bite of his cheese sandwich.
"I wouldn't hope on that. If the decrease goes on as slowly as it has in the last two days, then we will still be here tomorrow morning. I would be surprised if it would suddenly be under thirty-seven-point-five centigrade by half past three," was Draco's realistic estimation.
"And what should we do until then?" Harry asked.
"Play another round of Dragon Reserve?" Draco asked hopefully and excited. "You still own me a return match."
Not caring either way, though he could not say that he would not like to play another game with the blond, Harry agreed to the proposal. Besides, playing the game was fun, especially if Draco would need to get one of the Arctic Icestorm dragons from him again.
Of course, by three-thirty the two were far from being finished with the game. So, Draco was happy that he still would get the chance to beat Harry in his favourite game, as the female voice of the thermometer announced "Thirty-eight-point-one centigrade."
"See, Potter. What have I told you?" Draco said teasingly. "But, at least this way, you won't be winning this time because we finished the game early like on Thursday," the blond continued, before he walked into the kitchen to make some tea for the both of them.
The two of them continued playing the game for another hour before Draco was declared the winner, having gotten all of Harry's Dragon Claws. Draco, of course, was more than happy to finally have beaten Harry in what he regarded as his game. Harry was just happy that the blond would not be sulking for the next few hours as he had the last time they played the game. Though, Harry found Draco's explanation of why he had lost last time rather funny, as the blond blamed it all on the fact that Harry had bought the female Arctic Icestorm first, before Draco could buy it from Harry. Whatever makes Malfoy happy, Harry thought with a smile when he heard that far-fetched explanation. Though, he could not deny that he had been a bit sad, when Draco had gotten not only his beloved Arctic Icestorms but also both Hungarian Horntails this time.
During dinner, Harry asked Draco how many stories were left in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. When the blond said that only one was left, Harry told him that he would finish reading the book after dinner. Draco suggested that the they should read the tale together and also include another Muggle story because over the last days they had formed a tradition of reading those stories together.
So, after dinner, the two teens got comfortable on the couch with Harry resting against Draco, who was once again reading the stories out loud. Neither of the boys commented that by this point they were not required to have close contact with each other, but they had become so used to reading the fairy tales while being cuddled up, that it felt natural to them to be this close while reading. Besides, they did not mind the closeness at all.
Harry was intrigued by The Tale of the Three Brothers, as the Cloak of Invisibility reminded him of his own invisibility cloak. Though, he had not heard of anything resembling the Resurrection Stone or the Elder Wand. But, he resisted from telling Draco that something like the Cloak of Invisibility really existed. Even if they had gotten along rather well, considering that they usually ended up in a fight, they definitely were not close enough for Harry to tell the blond about his treasured cloak.
When he had asked Draco if he believed if the tale was true, that blond had answered that he did not believe in it, though there were rumours in the wizarding world that the Elder Wand really existed. Most people seem to refer to it as the Deathstick though.
Since they were already reading about a story which involved cheating Death, Harry suggested that they read Godfather Death next. It was a story which did not have a happy ending—something most wizards falsely associated with Muggle fairy tales. Draco was surprised that in the story the man would decline both God and the Devil to become his child's godfather but decide for Death in the end. He always had thought that Muggles would love to get God to be their child's godfather, even if it only was in a fairy tale.
The remaining time before the eleven-thirty check was spent talking over everything and nothing while the radio was on in the background, as well as the two of them taking a shower—separately this time as Harry could stand and walk on his own again.
Draco was especially interested in Disneyland which Harry told him about the day before. Now, he knew that it was located in Paris. And it seems like the Muggle parents not only went there, so that their children could see some of the most known fairy tale figures moving around and collecting their autographs, like Harry had told him before, but also to ride the different attractions it offered. However, Draco was far more interested in the roller-coasters Harry described, than something he called the 3D cinema, even if it would be interesting to know how the Muggles accomplished that particular feat without the benefit of magic.
Maybe I should try to go there too this summer? Draco thought, at the end of their talk about Disneyland. If Harry plans to go there, then it would be a great way for us to start talking back at Hogwarts. But I'll need to get some more information first.
When the last temperature measurement on Tuesday announced that Harry's body temperature had dropped from thirty-eight-point-one to thirty-seven-point-four centigrade, Harry was very happy. "Finally," he said, his voice full of joy.
But before he could start an embarrassing happy dance, Draco interrupted him and brought him back to earth. "As nice as it is that your temperature had decreased so rapidly in the last few hours, it's of no use to us."
Harry looked at Draco questioningly, even letting out a dumb "Huh?"
"Do you really think that shortly before midnight, the Healers will come rushing in here only because your temperature has finally gone under the set mark of thirty-seven-point-five centigrade?" Draco asked rhetorically. "Most likely only a mediwizard or -witch is on the night staff* and they will just tell us to go back in here and wait until the morning. They won't bother to call our Healers if it isn't an emergency. Especially since it is not like 'Oh, your temperature is down again, feel free to leave.' They will want to do an overall check-up again. And that will take about an hour, which they definitely won't want to do between midnight and one in the morning, even if the mediwizard would call them and you're Harry Potter."
"Great," Harry said, "I took an ice-cold shower for nothing." Draco just laughed at that exclamation. Harry pouted, which Draco found cute but luckily had enough self-control to not say it out loud.
When he was able to speak again, he ruffled Harry's hair affectionately, making it even messier, saying, "Poor Harry, I could have told you that it would make no difference. But, at least now you know that you can have your morning wank tomorrow instead of a cold shower. Or would you prefer me giving you a hand?" Draco asked teasingly.
"Very funny," Harry answered, while he removed Draco's hand from his still slightly damp hair. "But, if you insist, I could always give you a hand instead," he continued, with a smirk.
"I think I will take you up on that offer tomorrow," was Draco's comeback, his smirk even bigger than Harry's. Harry only groaned. He had not intended for the blond to actually agree to it. He just wanted to reverse their positions. Turning around, he got comfortable on his side of the bed, facing away from Draco and said "Good night", effectively ending their conversation for the night, not caring that he still wore the uncomfortable hospital gown.
Draco only let out a small laugh before he went to bed himself, turning out the light with a softly spoken "Nox" before he got out of his gown. He could not wait for the next morning to call in the hand job Harry so readily offered him. When he heard a rustling sound next to him, Draco had to suppress a chuckle. It seems like Potter finally noticed that he is still wearing the gown.
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night staff: If I understood the Harry Potter wiki correctly, then a Healer is like a Muggle doctor and a mediwizard equals a nurse. Therefore, I gather that at the Inoculation Ward, where normally no emergency cases arise, only nurses/mediwizards and -witches would be there at night.
AN: Thank you Sevfan from the hexfiles for the final corrections for this part.