Love Knows No Bounds Ch 8: Patience Is A Virtue

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As Draco walked with Harry into his living room he found that he was wringing his hands together in nervousness. He only did this when he knew something out of the ordinary was about to happen. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard the Gryffindor stop following him. Draco turned around to find that Harry looked so lost and confused like he just wandered into a trap and was contemplating running or facing his fears. Draco didn't like this and it made him even more nervous. When Draco opened his mouth to address him, Harry put a finger to his lips which made Draco get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. As if he wasn't already uneasy. Harry interrupted Draco's attempt at forming speech by speaking first.

"Bloody hell, this is so confusing! I don't know what to do about this anymore, Draco, I really don't. It's taking all my effort to stop thinking about you and to the best of my abilities I can't manage it. It's driving me insane. I'm so confused about everything except one thing. My feelings for you are more than that of just a friend." Harry said with such a serious demeanor that Draco was afraid to utter a response in the off chance that Harry would strangle him to the ground if he did. "Well, aren't you going to say something?" Harry questioned Draco impatiently.

"What do you want me to say? That you have gone mental and are imagining things that aren't there? Or that you are alone in your feelings of confusion and denial? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Potter, because I can not stop thinking about you either. And I'm not attracted to men so this is so much harder that I had ever imagined." Draco finally told Harry the truth. All of the feelings he had been having lately, ever since Harry had arrived at Draco's doorstep, having been just thrown out of his marriage, were finally out in the open. And while it didn't ease his mind over what was going on between the two of them, he felt more in control of the situation by revealing his issues.

Harry interrupted Draco's thoughts by speaking to him, "I'm not attracted to men either, but there's something about you, Malfoy and I don't know what it is but it has captivated me. Maybe---,"

"Maybe, what, Potter?" Draco asked impatiently.

"Maybe love knows no gender," as Harry spoke those words a slight blush crept upon his cheeks. Did he just say that he loved Draco? Yes, he did, Harry thought to himself.

"You're saying you're in love with me, now?" Draco paused momentarily to discern Harry's reaction.

Harry reacted all right. He started to walk over to where Draco was standing with arms outstretched ready to give Draco a hug. Before his interaction could be carried out, Draco backed away.

"Look, Harry, I'm not ready for this," Draco said as he clenched his jaw.

"What do we do?" Harry put his hands back down to his side in embarrassment for having made the first move.

"Well we don't start groping each other, that's definitely not what we do," Malfoy interjected. "You're so infuriating, Potter it's what I lo--,' Draco stopped himself from saying the l word. Did he really love Harry Potter? At this moment he finally realized what the word 'love' meant. "Oh, what the hell!" Draco moved over to Harry and without anymore hesitation and before Harry could get a word out, Draco placed his lips firmly over Harry's and ran his hands through his untidy hair. He put his tongue inside Draco's mouth and elicited a moan. From which one of them it came, couldn't be determined.

After a few seconds Harry stopped kissing Draco, "I have to go."

"What, where?"

"Anywhere but here," Harry said as he motioned towards the doorway. Draco didn't stop him as Harry opened the door to his apartment and slammed it shut. Draco was left wondering what had just happened between them.

It had been three weeks since the incident and finally both parties were making no more excuses as to what happened and instead just went with the truth. They were both in love with each other and it had nothing to do with gender or sexual attraction but it had more to do with a longing and an appreciativeness of one another. How Harry could be in love with a tyrant like Malfoy, none of them could tabulate a legitimate answer. After Harry let his mind wander back to that night at Malfoy's apartment, he realized that he wanted to be with Malfoy. At first he tried to rationalize it and say that he didn't really want to be with Draco but every time he did so, in the back of his mind he knew this wasn't true. He did want the blonde Slytherin. And he was getting more comfortable with the idea of them being a couple. But the question was, was Draco getting more comfortable with the idea?

Draco had finally gotten a job at Sicily's wizarding hospital and was working long hours every day. This did not help lessen the multitude of thoughts that invaded his mind about Harry. He had come to a decision that he wanted Potter. He felt good with him besides from the confusion that he was going through. But his head was clearing and he realized he had never been on a real date with the man and perhaps if he extended a dinner invitation to Harry, that they might be able to see if they would even work out together. He proceeded to owl Harry an invite and an hour later, the owl returned with a denied response. He decided that Harry probably realized that he didn't want to be with Draco and Draco would just have to accept that. But things would be simpler if they just moved on and forgot everything that happened so Draco shrugged it off.

When Harry received the invitation by owl he wasn't the least bit surprised. He knew that things would be too complicated and he definitely didn't need that in his life so he denied Malfoy's offer even though it wouldn't have pained him too much to have a nice dinner with the man he was falling for. Yep, he used that word again, "falling". Harry declared to himself. He just had to get more comfortable with the idea of couples doing things that couples do such as kissing, holding hands and the one that bothered Harry the most, sex. Not all relationships have to have sex, Harry rationalized to himself but knew that he was a sexual being so that wouldn't quite work well with his needs. He was tired of his needs not being fulfilled in his serious relationships and it wasn't cutting it anymore. He needed someone to please him, but was that person Draco? He decided to try to rectify his denying Draco and extend a new invitation for a walk by lake Moora right down the street from Harry's new apartment complex.

Draco was about to give up on Harry when a note came in through Draco's tawny owl that he had purchased his third year after Hogwarts. Draco unfolded the scrap of paper folded to the leg of his owl and read it excitedly. Harry changed his mind, Draco thought to himself, which means that Harry does want to try to make this work after all. He sent back the response with the words "Yes, I would love to," on the note. Draco had been patient for two weeks since his failed attempt to woo Harry and it looked like his patience finally paid off. Draco wasn't a patient man, but when it was something he really wanted, he could manage it. Patience is a virtue, Draco declared to himself, proud of his said accomplishment of it.