Hey guys! Here's Chapter 10. I just want to say thank you SO much for the reviews. You have no idea how motivated they make me =). And a special thank you to "J. Vengeance" who put the largest smile on my face. I haven't smiled that hard in forever!
Disclaimer: see Chapter one.
......HD.......HD = interval break.
'blah blah' = thoughts. But I've made this obvious.
Yayy here we go!:-
Harry bolted from Ron and Hermione's house and Apparated away back to Belgravia. He landed in the alleyway and gave himself a few minutes to get back his breathe.
'That had been embarrassing. How had Hermione known something was going on with him and Draco? But then again, Herm's always been rather perceptive.' Thought Harry as he strolled back to Draco's mansion.
He knew it was late, so as he entered the door he was surprised to see Draco sitting on the stairs [still shirtless] reading a book with Diddy by his side. It was a rather strange, yet oddly captivating sight.
"You're back." Draco simply stated, looking up and passing the book to Diddy who disappeared with a pop.
His stare made Harry shuffle self-consciously.
"Yeah we got carried away a bit, I haven't seen Herm in a while so we talked and ate for a long while." Harry said, walking forward to meet Draco halfway in the vast foyer.
"Sounds nice." Draco said, still intently staring at Harry.
"Ok...well...it is getting late, so I'll just...be off." Harry said slowly, unsure as to why Draco was so un-talkative and staring at him oddly.
"It's 9pm...Do you want some Butterbeer with me?" Draco said with a smile.
It would've been difficult for Harry to refuse such an offer in the first place, but Draco smiling and wearing no shirt pushed him over the line by a mile.
"Sure. Dining room?" Harry replied, motioning towards the dining room door.
"No. My room. Come on." Draco said, ignoring the flush across Harry's face as he led the way up the stairs.
As they reached the Grade suite Draco motioned for Harry to enter first which didn't help the flush across his face.
If Harry didn't know better he would think Draco was wooing him or something.
As Draco got the Butterbeer from the personal bar in his suite, Harry surveyed him.
He was pale. But his skin was almost luminescent; the lighting in the suite cast certain shadows along his body that accentuated his muscles. His hips were narrow; he could see the V shape of them leading down...
But what was most eye-catching to Harry was Draco's face; or more specifically, his facial features that were slightly shadowed by his halo-like hair.
The contours of his face were sharp, slightly pointy yet elegant. His lips on the contrary were plump. His hair was loose; not gelled back like back in Hogwarts, it fell around his face softly.
WOAH!
Harry shook his head. 'Where in Merlin's name did that come from?' he thought to himself.
"Harry? You alright? You look pale." Draco said walking over with two freshly cooled Butterbeers.
"Yeah fine, just thinking." Harry covered up quickly taking the bottle from him.
"Thinking? About what." Draco replied taking a seat next to him.
Harry mentally berated himself for covering up too quickly.
"Oh just...what I should do at work tomorrow." Harry finished lamely.
"Well...you're an Auror...so I'm guessing you'll be doing Auror training?..." Draco said with an odd look on his face.
Harry flushed.
"Oh yeah, well you know someti-
"Have you thought about what I said Harry?" Draco interrupted him.
"Draco surely you can't expect to make a decision so fast. I just broke up with Ginny and I have a strange suspicion something's up with her, she's moved in with Dean while he's married and Ron and Hermione barely know we're so 'chummy'"! Harry ranted, his Butterbeer now completely finished.
"Sometimes I wonder if you'll ever take care of yourself before taking care of someone else. The Gryffindor nobility really doesn't leave you does it?" Draco said with an amused smile.
"Guess not. But that's why you think I'm so awesome!" Harry said with a laugh.
Draco didn't laugh however.
"Yeah that is actually why." He replied.
Harry didn't seem to notice what had just happened.
"I think...you're a good guy Draco but I can't do this right now. I don't just think Ginny's confused; something is strange about this whole thing. And well I don't really know what we have here." Harry said indicating to himself and Draco. "I mean, am I gay? Am I going through a phase? When did these funny weird feelings in my stomach even start?" Harry said.
"Does everything in your life have to be so structured? Just because you had your life planned out for you since you were a baby doesn't mean you have to live like that through your life. Sometimes the best things can come if you just let things flow." Draco said, intently starting at Harry.
"Woah, since when were you so...adviceable?" Harry finished lamely.
"Just because I was a Slytherin and cunning doesn't mean I can't give advice." Draco said.
"You should hang out with Herm more, you two would make a crazy duo." Harry said, attempting to get off the topic.
"Stop trying to get off the topic." Draco said, reading his mind.
'Damn!" Harry thought.
"I do suppose you're right. But I don't know if I can do this." Harry continued.
"Fine ok. I want you to do me a favour Harry." Draco said look serious.
"What is it?" Harry replied.
"I want you to kiss me. Just one kiss." Draco said.
"WHAT? I- what? Where did? Why-" Harry spluttered.
"You know your eloquence is very attractive." Draco said.
Harry spluttered for a few more seconds.
"You're confused about how you feel about me. You don't know what to do about Ginerva, and you don't know how to tell Weasley and Granger that we're 'chummy'. Take it step by step; kiss me." Draco said simply.
"How would that help?!" Harry said; getting slightly hysterical.
"Well for one thing, if you enjoy it and if that strange feeling starts in your stomach again it would mean you would want to start something. And that's one thing worked out. "Draco replied.
Harry looked at him hesitantly. "I don't know...this is going a little faster than I would've expected."
"You know, for a person who killed You-Know-Who so instinctively you're incredibly indecisive." Draco said, now a little irritated.
"Look I'm sorry! But you just can't expect me to jump straight into this!! I was as straight as a book a few days ago. And now what? I like kissing guys?" Harry said, getting frustrated as well.
Harry was expecting Draco to continue arguing; instead he sighed and looked down.
"I'm sorry, I said I'd be patient and I'm not acting like it." Draco said.
The atmosphere had gotten very awkward all of a sudden, which didn't help as Draco still sat next to Harry shirtless.
"Well it is getting late, you sh-
Draco's eyes got very wide as he saw Harry's face centimetres from his own.
"Harry reall-
The next thing Draco knew he was leaning slightly back with Harry's lips on his own.
HARRY'S THOUGHTS AS THIS STRANGE OCCURENCE HAPPENS.
Draco's lips were really soft. Softer than they felt last time they had kissed. He leant over and placed a hand on his shoulder whilst the other was rested on the back of his head.
Oh Merlin.
The feeling in his stomach had returned; had returned so strongly he gripped Draco's hair harder.
Draco groaned.
It pulled Harry back to reality and he softly pulled away.
"You grasped that going-with-the-flow concept pretty quickly." Draco mumbled, his eyes opening.
"Well I took your advice...it felt pretty good." Harry said, flushing towards the end. "So what now?"
"That's up to you Harry. I think we've clearly established you like it. It's depends on what you want to do about it now." Draco said, leaning back again.
Harry felt very flushed all of a sudden.
"Ok well I'll have a think about it over tonight's sleep." Harry said quickly getting up.
Draco followed him. "Take your time Harry. I meant what I said before about being patient. I get that you're going through a...fiasco. I don't want to push you over the edge." He said.
Harry nodded and briskly walked back to his own suite.
He promptly shut the door and leant against it, breathing heavily.
'Should I have done that?' Harry thought. Sure it felt good...great actually, but he wasn't so sure if it was going to lead to him solving his complications or if it was going to do the opposite and end up in him banging his head on a table continuously.
'Well it's been 2 minutes and nothing disastrous has happened. That's got to be a good thing right?' He thought as he walked over to the bed stripping off his clothes.
It was only then did he realize he had a boner...a large one.
'Damn it!'
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Harry's eyes opened groggily as he felt the sun hit his face. He shook his wand to stop the buzzer. Rolling out of bed he shuffled to the bathroom for his morning routine. He threw one of Draco's suit pants and shirts trying to ignore the fresh smell of them.
Grabbing and shrinking his suitcase he walked out to find Draco just heading downstairs.
"Morning Harry." Draco said, motioning for him to follow him to the dining room. "Diddy's made breakfast; just eggs and bacon today, we're already a bit late."
"Oh that's ok." Harry said, almost running to keep up with him.
After breakfast they headed to the Apparition point together before disappearing with a pop.
Harry spent the first half of the day at work day dreaming and yawning. Usually researching past cases was thrilling to him; not today though. He couldn't seem to get yesterday night out of his head.
"You finished Harry?" Kingsley said, head peering inside his office.
"Oh yeah! Finished! All finished!" Harry said, sitting up quickly.
"Alright, hand the paperwork over, I'll just go over it and you can head into the arena first." Kingsley said stepping in and placing his hand out.
"Oh well on second thoughts, I could probably...go over these again." Harry said awkwardly.
"Harry...half those papers aren't filled in." Kingsley said, peering down at his desk.
Harry sighed.
"I'm sorry, I've just had a bit on my mind recently." He said, feeling too guilty to look at his face.
"I'll let you off the hook this once because you're usually a very hard working guy, but if it happens again I can't be this lenient." Shaklebolt replied looking concerned. "Just try and not bring it to the office ." he continued.
Harry nodded.
"I promise I'll finish this tonight. Don't worry, I'm not gonna start slipping." Harry said with confidence.
"See that you don't." Kingsley replied his serious tone was slackened by the genuine smile of concern on his face.
Harry sighed in relief as Kingsley left. And for the next hour and a half he slaved over his paperwork until Ron stepped in and asked him out to lunch. He gladly obliged and followed him to the Three Broomsticks.
"Hermione's really looking forward to lunch tomorrow." Ron said as he stuffed his face with chicken pot pie.
"Yeah me to." Harry replied slowly eating his treacle tart.
"Listen I've been meaning to ask you for a while. Since that Ginny's moved in with...Dean, shouldn't that mean you can go back to your house now? You don't have to stay with Malfoy anymore." Ron said, his fists clenching when he mentioned Dean.
"Yeah I was thinking about that to." Harry said, flushing. He was never great at lying.
"Yeah we could all come back to your place after lunch or something." Ron said smiling whilst wiping his mouth.
"Well I might stay at Draco's place for a little longer." Harry said slowly, carefully eyeballing Ron.
"What? Why? You're place is empty and you're willingly going to stay there?" Ron said with an incredulous look.
"Firstly, I willingly went there in the first place and secondly...well you know maybe I like his company. Is that such a bad thing?" Harry replied.
"I suppose not, but it still makes no sense to me." Ron said with a frown.
"I don't expect it would Ron, but just trust me on this ok? I just want a little company when I finish work that's all." Harry said, trying not to flush at the double entendre at what he just said.
"Well we're always here mate! You're welcome to come over anytime!" Ron said with a hopeful smile.
"Yes I know, but I can't constantly be coming over. You and Hermione need your room especially since you said you want to find the right time to pop the question you know?" Harry said with a huge smile; partly because he'd also managed to subtly change the subject, something he was never good at.
Ron flushed. "Yeah, I might do it on Saturday night; I've arranged for a fancy dinner at some Muggle Restaurant. It was one of Hermione's favourites when she was younger, she talks about it all the time. I'm just hoping I won't pass out with the nerves you know?"
"Nah mate, you won't. This is what you wanna do, so you'll do it." Harry said, reaching over and clapping him on the shoulder.
"Thanks. Anyway, let's go. I can't wait to get this paperwork done and for the weekend to start!" Ron said enthusiastically standing up and dropping some galleons on the table.
Harry dropped a few Sickles for tips and followed Ron back to the Apparition point.
The rest of the day was a total bore and a drag. Harry felt guilty that Kingsley might have thought he was slipping so he made sure he slaved over the rest of the paperwork.
Almost 4 and a half hours later, Harry placed down the quill and massaged his wrist. He was certain his ass had melted into the seat and the shirt that he had borrowed from Draco was stuck to his back from the sweat. Whoever had said paperwork doesn't' make you break out in a sweat, was very wrong; very wrong indeed.
He grimaced as he peeled his way out of his leather chair and placed his arms over his head to stretch; the shirt stretching well above his belly button.
Someone at that moment chose to knock and open his door. It was also Harry's luck that it was Draco. Instinctively Harry yanked down his arms a little too hard and smacked his hands on his thighs causing him to wince and rub them.
"If I didn't know better, I would've thought you were covering up from rubbing something else." Draco said with a mischievous wink.
Harry looked up with flushed cheeks. He seemed to be flushing a lot lately.
"What's up? I just finished my paperwork." Harry said, deciding to ignore what he said.
Draco smiled and walked forward and stopped only when he reached the table.
"Just came in to see if you were finished and wanted to head home together."
"Yeah sure, let's go. I'm sick of seeing this paperwork. And I'm starved." Harry said, rubbing his stomach.
They walked side by side down the hallway. Harry was thinking about the amazing kiss last night and was about to ask Draco if they could possibly do drinks again after dinner when a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Going home with Malfoy again?"
Harry jumped his face red. He turned around and came face-to-face with Ginny.
'What is she doing here again?' Harry thought.
"Yeah I am." He replied shortly.
"Ron told me." She said.
There was a moment of awkwardness.
"I need to go to the toilet, I'll be right back Harry." Draco said before slowly heading off to the men's room.
"Ginny, you promised not to come back here when I'm at work." Harry said with a slight edge of frustration.
"You're off work now aren't you?" She replied.
"Well yes, but...that's not the point! What do you want Ginny." Harry spluttered.
"Listen Harry, I'm sorry I know I said we should get some time off but I'm feeling really...confused all the time. I know it must be hard for you to, dealing with this but for some reason I'm having so much emotional trouble. I'm arguing with myself all the time and I can't understand why I can't just MAKE decision." Ginny said, her eyes with hysteria.
If Harry hadn't been so caught up with thoughts of getting away from Ginny he might have noticed the subtle clues in what she was saying. So instead, he just brushed her off.
"Ginny, you've MADE a decision, and that was to go with Dean. I'm sorry you're having trouble dealing with this; and yes so am I but I'm dealing with it on my own and you have to do the same as well. I care about you Ginny but like we said earlier the other day we REALLY need time away from each other. If we keep 'randomly' meeting up like this, there isn't going to be much left of the friendship we're trying to salvage." Harry said slightly bitterly.
"Bu-
"Ready Harry?" Draco said, interrupting Ginny unintentionally. "Oh sorry, didn't realize. Carry on." Draco continued, about to walk away to give them privacy.
"Yes! I am ready. I'll see you later Ginny, get some rest and we'll talk sometime later." Harry replied with a tone of finality as strode towards the floo.
Draco nodded at Ginny as he passed by. As he disappeared in the floo he glimpsed the look on Ginny's face.
It was a mixture of hurt, desperation and confusion.
Maybe Harry was right; something strange was going on with that woman.
Ok I'm stopping here, trust me I really don't to because I'd planned to go a lot further with this. I wanted to include the lunch with Ron, Hermione and Harry but my aunty from America is arriving tomorrow morning and I wanted to post as much as I could. I haven't seen my aunt in 2 yrs so the next chapter might take a few days to write. And it's also 1:41am and I need to rest =). I HOPE YOU LIKE IT THIS CHAPTER THOUGH!!
Well luckily this means, I've already got most of Chapter 11 planned out!!
Review replies:-
Skeerisma – Thank you very much!! You're review is greatly appreciated =). Well I've already planned out what's going on with Ginny and it'll be revealed a little later in the plot so hopefully so far I've still got you enticed!
– Your reviews are awesome! Thank you very much for reading =). I'm very glad I made you laugh because in that drunk part I hadn't intended to be funny so I'm very pleased! I'm really happy you find my story addictive and hope you did great on the psych exam! And yes, all that clumsiness is very fun to write with Harry. It just suits him so well =D. I hope you liked this chapter and I hope you don't find it a disappointment!
Once again Thanks everyone!!! I promise it'll get better!! I just rushed as much as I could with this chapter.
Anywho, ENJOY!