Another long chapter (HURRAH!). Disclaimer in Prologue. Warnings for a bit of fluff, but nothing that bad.

Chapter Nine

He looked amazing, in a pair of light jeans and a cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up; I felt very underdressed. "Hey everyone, I'm Draco. Harry I know, so you must be his older brother?"

Joe smiles and replies with "Yeah great to meet you at last mate."

"So, you must be the wonderful Mrs Potter?"

"Call me Lily and yes I am, lovely to meet you."

He kisses her on the cheek and asks if I'd help him with carrying the food in from the garden. We walk out together though the conservatory and into his spacious garden.

"I didn't know that your Dad wasn't in the picture." He says to me quietly.

"He died soon after Mum had me."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

He introduced me to his Dad, Lucius, and we brought the food in. Mum was avidly talking to Narcissa about the AGA and how good it was, and Joe was chatting to Vulpecula about how the apocalypse is possible. The chatter stopped after the food was brought in.

Sitting down outside next to Draco we started talking mindlessly about guitars, a discovered mutual interest of ours. He was in a band where he used to live, but he doesn't know if he wants to form one here. I said I'd be happy to join him because I play bass too. He shrugged and carried on eating, swiftly changing the topic to different bands.

Dessert went smoothly. as his Dad, Lucius, joined our conversation as he used to play drums and a debate started over which was better. Afterwards, Joe went up to Vulpecula's room with her and Lucius took the dogs for a walk whilst the mothers stayed chatting in the kitchen. I asked Draco if I could see his guitar.

In his room together, he opened a cupboard with it in. It was the most beautiful guitar I'd ever laid eyes upon. Electric, with black and grey. It was awesome. I played for a bit until he interrupted me.

"Hey Harry... Can I ask you something?"

I set the guitar down, "Uh, yeah sure."

"When did you start?"

"Start playing guitar?" I asked cluelessly.

"No. When did you start cutting?"

"Oh... I started when I was seven."

"Seven?!"

"Yeah, I stopped after my Mum found out. But I started again about two months ago."

"Why two months ago? What happened?"

"I was walking with Joe, feeling pretty down and I tripped and cut my neck. It felt so good, I realised what I could do whenever I felt low. It's stupid, but that's why I picked it up again. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Why did you try to kill yourself? And when?"

"It was last summer, I was almost fifteen. I'd been in a stable relationship with this person for a while now, and we were talking about 'it'. They were keen and I wasn't so. Having told them this, they told me that either we did it or they'd break up with me. I wasn't ready and they broke up with me and never talked to me again. I felt so alone and desolate without them, I couldn't imagine being in a world where they aren't with me. I tried to hang myself but the rope snapped. I broke my arm and had to tell Mum that what I was doing. She was devastated and got really upset. Then I tried again, but drowning this time. I wasn't strong enough to go through with it."

"Shit." Is all I manage to come out with. It's scary; he seems so confident and happy, it's scary to think of him as a broken hearted mess, trying to kill himself. I guess you can say that of my brother though.

"So yeah. That's my darkest secret out." I looked at him.

"It's strange that we barely know each other and we're confiding our darkest secrets in each other like this. It doesn't seem right somehow."

He shifted closer to me on the comfy sofa. Our knees were touching. It felt like someone had plugged me into the mains. I could feel his pulse through my shorts. It was almost like we'd been connected together somehow. Our breathing increased, never losing eye contact. He inched closer to me, I could hear my heart pounding inside my ears.

"Joe! Harry! We're off now!" Mum called up the stairs. We jumped apart. I swiftly got up, knocking the guitar over in the process.

"I-I-I'm sorry Draco, but I have to go." I walk out the door and almost sprint down the stairs, knocking straight into Joe, who's hair looked very messed up and doing up his belt.

"Fucking hell Joe. Fast mover!" I say, punching him in the arm.

He tells me to shut up and we both go downstairs together.

At home, we were both in my room chatting about how the evening went. "Joe, shush. Stop telling me about the food and how good that steak was. I want to know about you and Vulpecula." I wink at him.

"You disgusting teenager!" He says, pushing my shoulder, "We started chatting over supper and we have so much in common, the same music interests and everything. We then went up to her room and started watching a zombie film together on her bed, chatting the whole way through it. Then she placed her hand on my thigh and rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped a hand around her waist and held her hand. She then whispered something in my ear which I didn't hear, I looked down at her and she kissed me, my god she's such a good kisser, and she clambered on top of me and properly kissed me, her thighs squeezing my hips, I ran my hands up her hips and her waist, she has the sexiest body, and across to her chest. She moaned and it drove me insane, and she could clearly feel it, if you know what I mean... And she took my shirt off and ran her hands down my chest and then she totally went downwards."

"Oh my god, you lucky bastard. Was she good?"

"She was very good, but then Mum interrupted, so we had a long kiss and said we'd see each other tomorrow. What did you and Draco talk about?"

I suddenly looked down at the bed covers, refusing eye contact. "Oh, nothing. We played guitar."

Joe seemed to take this and nodded.

"Vulpecula is a fucking hot bird though, good one there Joe. Right," I sighed "I'm going to bed now. Freaking exhausted."

"Harry, before you go; why is there blood on your sleeve?"

I froze.