Author's Note: Okay, that was pointless. The disclaimer I mean... I'll answer your reviews for the last chapter tomorrow- thanks, by the way.
My hip hurts and I have a scraped knee because I ran into our furniture #pout#... To those few sad individuals who are still reading this, thank you, but you needn't bother. There's nothing of importance in this note... Go, read the chappy...
/blablabla/ - Parseltongue
Thanks for betaing, Silver Lady. May you never walk into a poodle!
10. CAN I KISS YOU NOW?
"May I kiss you?" Lucius asked for the umpteenth time that week, already knowing the answer.
"No, you may not." He wasn't disappointed, or maybe he was, but he knew that Harry would answer like this- he always did. "Thanks for asking, though." He always thanked him too, in that sweet, teasing, but still earnest way of his.
Lucius knew that Harry would refuse; that he didn't want to be kissed. Why, he didn't understand, but for some reason he respected it. He had promised, after all, after thinking about it. Not that the thinking had changed his mind in any way. He wanted Harry, but what was even more important was that he wanted Harry to like him as well and, since he was a Malfoy, he would eventually get what he wanted, though it didn't look like it right now. He had it under control, he assured himself; Severus' smirk was ill-informed.
Oh, yes, Severus was there too, on their date, and who else might grace them with their insufferable presence? Harry's parents, Black, Lupin and Rudolphus. Now, why was this so? Because Harry had deemed it necessary that the partners spend more time together. On their date. At first it had only been Evans and Potter and he had grudgingly agreed. A double date wasn't unheard of, he could still work with that. Then one of the remaining four had also decided to join in and, since he didn't know who it had been, he was keen to blame it on the Gryffindors. Harry had made their partner come along and, for some inexplicable reason, the other pair as well. He was sure that Harry had some kind of plan that made it essential that he spend his day with a bunch of Gryffindors, along with two Slytherins that he could hardly consider friends anymore since they were ruining his date, but he didn't quite see why he had to suffer because of that.
He certainly hadn't agreed to this, but Harry had pouted and looked so fucking delicious and hot that he wasn't sure if he would have been able to protest much, even if Harry had asked for his opinion; and Harry certainly hadn't. So much for their date going the way he'd wanted it to!
But Harry was enthusiastic, smiling almost constantly, and so he resigned himself to bear with it, trying to ignore all of their companions, which was not very easily done, by the way. Potter, James Potter, was grinning from ear to ear and, when he wasn't basking in the rare chance of having captured Lily Evans' attention, he either pranked random people or told jokes and stories, which seemed to be very amusing judging by Harry's radiant smile and his happy chuckles. Sirius Black turned out to be not much more aggreable than his dear future wife, Narcissa, and he could almost forgive Severus for his dour mood, if that didn't spoil the atmosphere for him as well.
Honestly, how was he supposed to impress and seduce Harry under these conditions? He was good, but no one was that good! How was he supposed to get Harry's attention when he was barely able to get a word in edgewise? If he hadn't managed to somehow maintain a hold of Harry's hand he would have seriously doubted that this was even a date at all. Most likely he would have ended up alone in the Leaky Cauldron while Harry was still joking with the Gryffindors. Harry probably wouldn't even have noticed his absence.
And then there was Lupin! Lupin had dared to growl at him when he had slipped an arm around Harry's narrow waist! Growl! No one was to growl at him! But of course Harry thought it was amusing and had rebuked him for snapping at the amber-eyed boy. Him! Until then he had thought that the quiet Gryffindor was the most likeable of the whole bunch, but that just went too far! The feral Gryffindor had no right to meddle in his relationship when he was so obviously lusting after the Black heir. But no, instead of merely staring at Black, he was keeping an eye on him as well and whenever he as much as thought about getting close to Harry Lupin bared his teeth in a silent threat and let his wand slip into his hand and Harry did nothing! He was sure that Harry knew what Lupin was doing, because Harry seemed to notice everything. He didn't expect Harry to jump in front of him and defend his honour or some such nonsense because, frankly, he wouldn't want Harry to do anything of that sort. He could stand up for himself, thank you very much, he didn't need Harry's protection, but it would have been nice if Harry had shown a bit of indignation or at least compassion on his account.
He was doing this and enduring this for Harry, was it too much to ask for a bit of gratitude? He had been holding back snide remarks the whole day, he was polite and courteous, he let himself be dragged from shop to shop, he held open doors, he even laughed at a few of the Gryffindors' jokes and he had not hexed anyone as of yet, though his hand was itching to reach for his wand and transfigure the lot of them into dustbins, and all he got for it all was the sight of Harry's back and the smaller hand in his. It was just not fair!
"Can we go to Honeydukes?" Harry was almost bouncing, not waiting for a reply before he tugged Lucius towards the sweet shop. "It smells so good in there."
Lucius smiled despite himself as Harry leaned against his chest, taking a deep breath. Of course, Harry declined his request to kiss him once again, but he couldn't bring himself to feel offended when Harry fit so perfectly in his arms.
"Are you listening, Lucius?" Harry asked for the second time, finally startling the blond out of his daydream (except, of course, that Lucius was in no way lost in a daydream about him and Harry and an extreme lack of clothes separating them, because Malfoys don't daydream, but that was beside the point in any case).
"Of course, I am," Lucius protested at once. "I just tried to remember what your favourite chocolate was."
"I don't like Honeydukes' chocolate," Harry accepted the change of subject. "But do you know those big gummy bears? I love them..."
His voice trailed of dreamily and his pink tongue sneaked out to moisten his lips, as if he was imagining tasting those gummy bears, while Lucius' imagination turned in a decidedly different direction at the sight.
"Hey, kiddo", James shouted, practically from the other end of the whole shop, making Harry wince before he freed himself from Lucius' embrace and sauntered over to where his father stood, hand in hand, with none other than Lily Evans, causing a lot of students to gape unashamedly.
The shops and the streets outside were bustling with Hogwarts students. Since the war had started visits to the village had been rare and far between as not even Dumbledore could deny that it was a security risk, however, all the teachers agreed that the students just became unbearable if they weren't released from the castle every once in a while and so they had opted to take the risk rather than to try to control them in their classrooms.
Harry was laughing with James over something or other and Remus reached around Sirius for some unknown and uninteresting sweet, his arms just happening to stay around Sirius' waist, who was too occupied with arguing with Severus to notice it at first, and when he did notice it he decided that it, firstly, felt rather nice and that, secondly, it would be rather embarrassing to protest after such a long time and admit that his verbal fight with Snape had taken up so much of his concentration. Who was he to change the future anyway?
Lucius sighed, leaning against the counter, staring at Harry. No, it was not fair. He had imagined this date to turn out quite differently when he had asked for it. He hadn't believed, of course, that they would be accompanied by so many others but, other than that, he had rather thought that he would be able to snatch one or two, or maybe a dozen or so, kisses. He really didn't like Harry's new rules. He had been tempted more than once to just ignore them, push Harry against the next best wall and kiss him senseless, but he was kind of afraid what would have happened if he had done so. No, not afraid, he wasn't afraid, just a bit cautious, wary. It didn't seem like such a good idea to anger Harry, though then he would at least have taken note of him. He sighed again. This was not acceptable and something needed to be done about it immediately.
He pushed away from the counter and turned around and imperiously waved a clerk over. He would order some gummy bears now! Even to his own mind that sounded more laughable than like a real plan, but he was just passing the state where he would still care about such trivialties. He inclined his head in greeting, as that state rushed right past him, and then focused his eyes on Harry once more. He would get him no matter what!
After the sweet shop, Lily dragged them all over to look for the newest books and Harry ordered Lucius to search for a certain book on martial arts, which he then handed to Rudolphus and Remus.
"It's really good," Harry explained. "I think it would help you with your dueling skills. I can teach you a few things too, but not really how you can use your strengths to your advantage," he shrugged lightly. "There are also a lot of curses to disarm someone or to bind their magic, I think it would only be to your advantage if you learned some of them."
"Thanks, Harry," Remus smiled gratefully, already browsing through the book. "Those moves you showed us were really interesting."
"We were wondering if you could help us combine them with some shields or charms," Rudolphus asked. "My brother would like to also learn more about it too."
"Sure," Harry smiled at them, "just set a time and I'll try to help you."
"That's not fair, why do you have to help them?" Sirius whined. "Am I not a good godfather?" his voice was quivering near the end and his eyes dropped sadly, making him look as if he was either close to tears or faking quite convincingly.
"Well, if you asked for help on a specific subject I would be inclined to help you as well," Harry stated evenly, "but as you and Sev are not even able to hold a civil conversation between you, I think you should work on that first. Now, stop this nonsense, Siri, I'm blind, I wouldn't even be impressed by your best puppy-dog eyes, regardless."
"You have an unfair advantage there," the grey-eyed boy complained. "You are so cruel!"
"I'm rolling my eyes, just so you know," Harry stated, "but if you two manage not to fight for the rest of the day I will give you something to help you both out. Deal?"
"We'll see," Severus drawled in obvious boredom before slipping once more down the aisle where the Potions books were located.
When they were relatively alone again Lucius asked Harry once more if he could kiss him, who turned him down once more, and then they went to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer. Alone. Well, not completely alone, of course, because there were still more than half of the castle's occupants milling around, but without the rest of Harry's friends (Lucius had decided that he could hardly consider Severus a friend at this point when he was so rudely intruding on his privacy with his little raven).
Lily was still absorbed in a new Charms book, James was absorbed in staring at her, Severus couldn't tear himself away from the Potions books (or maybe he had finally got the hint that Lucius wanted to be alone) and Sirius had to stay at his side if he didn't want to upset Harry- and they had all learned that upsetting Harry was a very bad thing to do. Remus stayed as well, on one hand, of course, to observe his mate and, on the other, to go through the new book with Rudolphus, though he didn't refrain from sending Lucius one last warning growl, and so Lucius and Harry were finally, relatively, alone together.
"Tell me something about yourself," Harry pleaded as they were sitting in a rather quiet booth, sipping their butterbeers.
"What would you like to know about me, Harry?" Lucius purred, leaning a bit closer.
"I don't know, just something," Harry shrugged. "What's your favourite colour or something like that."
"Well, my favourite colour is green, my favourite subject is Arithmancy and my favourite person is you," the blond smirked as Harry blushed. "Now it's your turn."
"I like the silvery shimmering effect on snow when the sun hits it just right, the blue of ice on the lake when it's still thin and you can look through it and you can't really tell apart whether it's white or blue, but you know that it has to be blue because white is just such a boring colour," Harry's blush deepened a little and Lucius chuckled. "Sorry, I don't really remember colours as colours, but only how certain things looked like and winter was always my favourite season. Moving on, my best subject was always Defence Against the Dark Arts and I like it a lot, but I'm not going to spend the rest of my life with it either. I have so many people I care about that I don't think it would be fair to make such a distinction about having a favourite person...You know I always wondered what you do all day long?"
"In the future?" Lucius raised an eyebrow in amusement. "How should I know? That's your time, isn't it?"
"Fine, mock me," Harry grumbled. "It's just, I never saw you working and still you are so filthy rich."
"How good to know," Lucius smirked and Harry swatted his arm. "Maybe I'll tell you my secret if you let me kiss you."
"No, thank you, I think I'd rather stay in the dark," Harry pouted and Lucius briefly wondered if he did it on purpose. "Tell me something else then."
"You look absolutely stunning in those jeans," Lucius commented, idly swirling the rest of his butterbeer as his eyes fixed on Harry, "and I like your lessons, even though you make me work with Potter, but that is admittedly mostly because I can stare at you as profusely as I want and have an excuse for doing so..." Harry blushed again, ducking his head as Lucius chuckled, until the blond decided to give him a small reprieve for fear of destroying his slim chances of getting a kiss today at all. "We should probably head back. Unless you want to go somewhere else?"
Harry shook his head lightly, slipping his small hand back into Lucius', and they slowly made there way back to the castle. The previously light breeze had picked up in volume and the sun had hidden behind a thick barrier of grey clouds, shrouding the landscape with a dim light.
"Are you cold?" Lucius asked when he noticed Harry shivering, not able to fight off his concern completely.
"A little," Harry admitted, wrapping his arms tighter around his body, surprised when a heavy, thick cloak was draped over his shoulders. "What are you doing? Now you will be cold."
"Don't worry about me," Lucius chuckled, strapping the fastenings of the cloak for Harry. "My robes have a warming charm woven into them."
"Thank you," Harry blushed as Lucius put an arm around his waist, drawing him closer to his side.
The blond carefully manoeuvred Harry around obstacles, like puddles and small rocks, and as they reached the safety of the castle just before it began raining. He had the fleeting thought that this had been the best date ever. Sure, they had had too much company for his liking for most of it, Harry had spent far too much time chatting with the others and Harry hadn't allowed him more than a casual touch every once in a while, but still, he could understand that Harry wanted to spend time with his family and he'd had ample time to study every curve of that delicious, young body, always finding something new that intrigued him and, though he had not been able to capture those soft lips, he had never enjoyed kissing as much as holding hands with Harry. Okay, well, perhaps he was trying to convince himself of that, but he decided that Harry was worth it and that he would gladly have another date just like this one if it meant that Harry liked him too, if only just a little. It truly hadn't been that bad, now that he thought back on it.
"I love the rain," Harry whispered, stopping suddenly just outside of the huge double doors, tilting his head upwards. "It's almost as if I can see again. Every small raindrop shows me what's around me. I can hear every tree and every rock and every blade of grass as the rain envelopes them. Can you hear that? The small plick-plack as the rain crackles against the roof and then rolls down until it falls, and falls, and falls, and finally hits the ground, caressing the grass. And do you hear that, when the drops disturb the still surface of the lake, disappearing with a small bloob? How the raindrops slide from one leaf to the next, deeper and deeper, and eventually meet the dead leaves and the small twigs on the ground with a tiny rustling? Merlin, I love it!"
Lucius had listened to Harry's rambling in rapt fascination. In truth, he didn't hear any of these things, but the fact alone that Harry seemed so utterly happy was enough for him to also love the rain.
He was reluctant to end this perfect moment, but also knew that he wouldn't be able to resist temptation much longer, so he carefully slung his arms around Harry's waist, caressing his right hipbone lightly.
"You are beautiful when you smile like this," he murmured barely above a whisper, drinking in that wistful, happy, beautiful, heart-felt smile adorning Harry's face. "You should do it more often."
Harry didn't answer, just leaned his head back against Lucius' hard chest, smiling only that tiny little bit more that could melt the coldest of hearts. And it did. Lucius had never lost control of his emotions like this. It was part of the Malfoy code: When you are forced to always remain indifferent and composed on the outside, you slowly begin to internalise it until the mask and the truth begin to blur. Now, though, with Harry's delicate form cuddled in his arms, he couldn't stop his heart from aching, because this was merely one short moment that would end and he longed to have this for the rest of his life. He had always forbidden himself from falling in love. Love was an inconvenience, his father had told him, and he had always held firmly to that belief, but Harry had tugged on his heart and lured him closer and closer to the edge and now he had finally lost his footing. He was falling.
"I know you will tell me no," he finally whispered after a short eternity, "but can I kiss you now?"
"Yes," Harry said with only the smallest bit of hesitation.
"I beg your pardon?" Lucius asked, not trusting his ears.
"Yes, you can kiss me," Harry said softly, "if you want to..."
A slow smirk spread over Lucius' features as he turned Harry around in his arms, not loosening his hold for a second. He gently tilted Harry's pale face up with one finger, tickling the soft lips with his breath, before he began caressing them with his own. One small nip to the right corner, another one to the left corner and then a teasing lick to Harry's full bottom lip. The smaller boy purred lowly and his lips parted slightly in invitation. Lucius' tongue immediately slipped in, brushing against Harry's, and while the younger boy explored his face with his delicate fingers, Lucius explored his mouth with an agile tongue.
"Thank you," Harry whispered, his hands now tangled in Lucius' thick blond hair when they parted for air.
"You are the only one I know who would thank me for a kiss," Lucius murmured, cradling the raven-haired boy to his chest.
"It was a thank you for waiting and for this day. I know I was annoying you, but you just have to accept that they are all very important to me and, if you also want to become important to me, you have to get used to that. I will not be forced to choose between you and my family, Lucius, because they will always come first, no matter how much I may like you," Harry explained.
"You have a strange way of telling me that you like me," Lucius rolled his bright silver eyes, kissing Harry's nose lightly. "A simple 'The kiss was perfect!' would have done just fine, you know?"
Harry laughed at that, pressing closer to the taller youth. "Lucius, the kiss was perfect. Thank you."
"So does this mean I can kiss you more often?" Lucius asked hopefully and Harry nodded slightly. "Harry, will you tell me why you didn't want to be kissed earlier?"
"It didn't feel good," Harry said carefully. "Or maybe it felt good, but it didn't feel right. You... You never gave me any warning and it scared me and I was afraid that you would scare me too much and that I would end up hurting you. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to feel sorry," Lucius soothed him. "Firstly, it's perfectly understandable and it was insensitive of me that I never stopped to consider that you might not like it and, secondly, it was well worth the wait, in my opinion."
Harry blushed brightly and Lucius captured his lips in a kiss once more. "You are so beautiful," he murmured, fascinated, caressing Harry's cheeks with his thumbs, "will you do me the honour of being my boyfriend? Please? I want the chance to become important to you."
"Okay," the black-haired beauty replied timidly, "but..."
Lucius gently interrupted whatever doubts he was about to reveal. "I will try very hard not to scare you or even just make you feel slightly uncomfortable. I have no previous experience with this type of thing, so I beg you to forgive me if I should fail, but..."
Lucius' speech was silenced as Harry stood on his tiptoes and pressed their mouths together and then slung his arms around the blond's neck to maintain that position. "It's okay. I was just going to ask that you be honest. If you lose interest, that's fine, and if I get too annoying and you want to get rid of me that's also okay, but don't go behind my back. Please, don't do that."
"I can agree to that," Lucius smirked, "though that last part won't happen. I intend to keep you for the rest of my life."
Harry gave a short chuckle, which quickly turned into a purr as Lucius plundered his mouth once more, savouring Harry's taste.
"Luc," it was barely more than a breath, but still it sent Lucius' blood shooting south and he briefly turned away to get himself back under control by thinking of Dumbledore doing a striptease for Voldemort and Filch. Urgh.
Harry obviously took that reaction as a bad sign and he started to apologise, jumbling the words together.
Lucius couldn't help but laugh. "You have no problem with calling me 'Blondie' and other less flattering names and then you start to fret about a simple, 'Luc'?"
"You turned away", Harry pouted, "and I had rather hoped you would leave me alone if I called you those names, but I don't want you to leave me now."
"I don't mind you calling me 'Luc'," Lucius stated. "I actually rather like it to be honest."
"Okay, then," Harry suddenly grinned impishly up at him, "let's get something to eat, Luc."
The blond soon found himself being dragged by an enthusiastic black-haired boy, just barely being able to slow their pace to something more dignified. "No more dragging for today, Harry," he demanded and Harry looked mildly apologetic, before another kiss made him forget about that.
The blond mildly regretted that he had given Harry his cloak as it was now harder to feel his lithe body under his hands, and resolved to just press closer to him. Harry took two stumbling steps back and Lucius just barely had the time to react before Harry would have been pressed against the wall. Instead he loosened one arm from around Harry's waist and supported himself against the wall with it, pulling Harry closer to his body with the other.
Harry threw his arms around the blond's neck, playing with his hair, as Lucius' lips massaged his own, gently suckling on his lower lip. A soft mewl escaped his throat when he tried to breathe through his nose, but eventually he lost the battle and had to pull back, gasping for breath. Lucius' own gasps made him smile slightly and he timidly snuggled into him. He curiously reached one hand out behind him, trying to understand where Lucius' other arm had disappeared to and his fingertips just barely skimmed over a cold stone wall.
"Wow, you remembered," he chuckled, "thank you, Luc."
The blond looked affronted. "Of course, I remembered, and I'll have you know that it's very uncomfortable and inconvenient that I can't push you up against walls anymore."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Poor you," Harry smirked. "Maybe, once your time of probation is over, we can talk about scratching that rule."
"I'm on probation?" Lucius echoed incredulously and Harry nodded. "After everything I endured today, I'm still on probation? What else am I supposed to do?"
"Don't despair, Blondie," Harry grinned at him, "it's unbecoming of a Malfoy to become desperate."
"You're enjoying this way too much," Lucius shook his head slightly.
"So would you, if you were in my position," Harry smirked at him. "Unfortunately for you, I know exactly how much you want me..."
"Oh, do you now?" the blond Head Boy asked with a raised eyebrow and Harry nodded with conviction.
"You want me so much that you endured a whole afternoon of being ignored," Harry purred, gently caressing his cheek. "You want me so much that you haven't thought of anyone else since I came here," he chastely nipped at Lucius' lower lip. "You want me so much that you can't stop staring at me," a soft brush of lips had accompanied that statement. "You want me so much that you don't argue those points I made in hopes of getting more of me, isn't that true, Lucipoo?"
"Tease," Lucius growled, firmly pressing their lips together and demandingly tapping his tongue against Harry's closed lips. He pulled back slightly when Harry didn't grant him access, glaring down at him. "If you don't open your mouth and enjoy this kiss I will bite you."
Harry chuckled at that, but obediently allowed Lucius' tongue entrance to his mouth as he carefully tugged Lucius closer to himself until his back was resting comfortably against the wall.
"Are you excited about the Quidditch match tomorrow?" Harry asked later when they had taken their seats at the Slytherin table. "It's Slytherin against Gryffindor, isn't it?"
Lucius had a hard time concentrating on Harry's question as the boy in question slowly licked yogurt from a spoon, so he merely nodded, totally forgetting about Harry's disability.
"He nodded," Severus informed Harry matter-of-factly and Lucius briefly wondered when he had arrived before he noticed that everyone else was present as well.
They must have been kissing for longer than he had believed.
"And you still wanted to give me something for your lesson," Severus added.
"Yep," Harry smiled at him. "No more arguments. I'm really proud of you. It's in the dorms, somewhere. I translated it for you."
"Translated?" Severus arched one eyebrow.
"It's by Salazar Slytherin. Really interesting, with lots of potions that can be used to strengthen shields or just to attack. I know that both you and Sirius are great with potions so I thought it would help you both," Harry shrugged. "Neither of you speaks Parseltongue so I had to translate it, obviously."
"You are a Parselmouth?" Severus all but shouted, which finally got Lucius' attention.
"Oh, right, you didn't know about that," Harry said as he continued to lick his spoon clean. "Yes, I am."
A shocked silence descended onto the whole Slytherin table, spreading like a disease until the Great Hall was utterly silent.
"Oh, honestly, it's not that big a deal," Harry got up, placing the spoon on his plate. "Find someone else to stare at. I'm going to bed."
"What did you do to my son?" James shouted, enraged, seconds after the doors fell shut behind Harry.
"We did nothing," Lucius had stood up as well to follow Harry.
"Bullshit, Malfoy," James spat, blocking his path. "Tell me what happened."
"Apparently," Lucius sighed, not in the mood to argue, "Harry is a Parselmouth. It startled the other Slytherins."
He used James' shocked silence to walk around the elder Potter and left the Great Hall.
"Malfoy, wait," James caught up with him as he had almost reached the secret entrance to the Slytherin common room. "I have to talk with Harry."
Lucius only rolled his eyes and whispered the password, making sure James couldn't hear it.
"Harry?" Lucius cautiously approached the shivering figure in the armchair closest to the fire. "Are you okay?"
Harry didn't have the time to react before James pulled him into his arms. "I don't mind. It's one of the things you can't change, isn't it? It doesn't change who you are," James soothed.
Harry sniffed. "They all thought I was evil because of that. They thought I was killing all the muggleborn students. I'm not Voldemort, I never want to be like him."
"Who thought you were evil?" James asked gently.
"Everyone. In my second year," Harry sobbed. "I thought it was normal to speak Parseltongue, and then they all hated me for it."
"I'm not too thrilled about it either, Harry," James admitted, pulling Harry into his lap. "Everyone knows that You-Know-Who is a Parselmouth and how much pain he causes with that ability- and in general. Even Slytherin himself had the idea to get rid of all muggleborns, or at least that's what everyone says, but you are my son and I have every right to believe that you are the best person in the whole world."
Harry chuckled, clinging to his father's robes. "I'm not, but I'm not evil either."
"That's good to know," James laughed, "but never scare me like that again."
"It's a bad habit," Harry smiled a little. "Sorry for worrying you. I was afraid you would hate me just like they did..."
"I'm not that prejudiced," James protested. "After all, I've never really met a Parselmouth before."
"Now you know one," Harry stated mischievously. "It certainly has its advantages. Do you know how many secret passageways Slytherin integrated into Hogwarts, or how many password-protected rooms that have parsel overrides?"
"Now that's my son!" the Marauder declared proudly. "You have to show me sometime."
Harry jumped up, walked straight to the wall opposite of the fireplace, and put his hand on a certain spot.
/Open!/ he commanded clearly and the stones started to rearrange themselves. "This passage leads directly to the Headmaster's office, but there are several smaller passages to different classrooms, the Chamber of Secrets, and even the lake."
"The Chamber of Secrets?" James spoke up, surprised, cautiously peering into the darkness. "It really exists?"
Harry nodded slightly. "I wouldn't go down there now though. The basilisk is a bit unfriendly."
"This is awesome," James exclaimed. "I have to tell Sirius about this..."
"You can use this passage," Harry motioned to it. "Just take the second turn to the left and then press the stone in the upper right corner."
James hugged his son tightly, grinning from ear to ear, and then disappeared down the passage after lighting his wand to see the way.
/Close,/ Harry ordered, intending to turn around, but found strong arms wrapped around him.
"Do that again," Lucius whispered directly in his ear, his breath sending a shiver through his body.
"Do what?" Harry returned in confusion.
"Speak Parseltongue, it's sexy," Lucius purred. "Please?"
Harry hesitated briefly. He wasn't absolutely convinced he wanted to sound sexy, though he had to admit that he liked Lucius' kisses very much and if he got more of them for speaking the snake language then he certainly wouldn't complain about it. Furthermore, Lucius had said 'please' and that meant something, to Harry at least. He slowly turned around, standing on his tiptoes, and put his arms around Lucius' neck.
/You want me to speak in Parseltongue?/ he hissed softly, the blond emitting a soft, barely audible, groan and making an encouraging nod to continue. /I love how you behaved this last week, how you would really listen to me and accept my answers. I loved how you kissed me today, that I could feel your breath on my lips before you really touched me,/ he carefully touched Lucius' lips with one finger, caressing them, and then briefly pressed his lips to Lucius'. /I love how you hold me and that you told the Slytherins to be civil to their Gryffindor partners. I love your hair,/ he twirled one of the longish strands around his fingers. /I love to tease you and joke around with you as well. I love your sense of humour,/ he said as he nuzzled into the blond's neck, sending puffs of air onto his warm skin as he continued speaking. /I'm sometimes glad that I can't see you because I'm not sure I could stand to see your cold mask. I wish you could really understand me and not only pretend to. I'm afraid, Luc, because I like you way too much and because your kisses make me feel so warm and protected, but it's not true.../
Harry dropped his arms and eased out of Lucius' embrace. "Harry, what...?"
"Good night, Luc," Harry whispered as he disappeared down the corridor leading to the dorms, leaving Lucius to wonder what had just happened, not to mention taking care of a little problem (or not so little, as the case may be), which prevented him from following after his new boyfriend to find out what had caused the sad and melancholic look that he thought had flitted over Harry's face shortly before he had turned away.
Oh, poor Lucius, he really has his work cut out for him #snicker#...
So do you, don't be lazy now! I wrote this whole chappy for you, surely that counts for something...