Delayed Devotion

by Felice09

When a curse places Draco Malfoy in the middle of political gains playing and predjudice, he is forced into obediance to spare him from more dangerous paths. But obediance is the one thing he struggles against. Setting Hogwarts-era, Draco/Harry.

21. Chapter 20

The five o clock exchange went surprisingly well considering the larger audience present. Ron came this time, along with Pansy and Hermione who followed from the defence class. Blaise had the lesson block with his tutor until dinner time, and so missed out, and fumed about it for the rest of the afternoon. Despite the fact that more people were watching, the exchange went far smoother than the lunchtime meeting. Both Harry and Draco were divested of their shirts and nuzzled into each other to the approval of their gathered friends. The fact that Ron was so supportive endeared him to Hermione, and they did some nuzzling of their own.

The five o clock exchanges became a regular addition to the daily routine since the first one on Monday, and continued throughout the week, putting Draco in a far better mood. Harry's mood was marginally better too, but he was liable to rear up in anger when the clandestine mutterings about the blonde reached his ears.

All mutterings aside, the week passed without incident.

On the Thursday morning of the Ravenclaw Slytherin Quidditch match, however, it appeared that people were not just muttering anymore.

"At least with Morrigan at the posts I knew what to yell at him. What do I say to Boot? You dropped your textbook?" Blaise was sheathed in his Quidditch gear and was discussing tactics with the Slytherins.

"You could try that. He looks like he'd fall to pieces if you even looked at him wrong." Millicent Bulstrode leered across to the Ravenclaw table, where a nervous Terry Boot kept gulping at his plate as his teammates encouraged him.

"Well, cause he already looks like shit, if we just sort of bumped into him on the way to the pitch, you reckon he'd forfeit?" Crabbe growled menacingly.

"Yeah, but a win by forfeit's not what we need today. We need house points, and lots of them." Theo mused; swilling his pineapple juice like it was fine liquor.

"But Flint's little brother is not much of a seeker." Pansy commented dryly. "We can't really afford letting Chang take her time up there."

"I say just knock Chang into the hospital wing." Draco scowled, poking at his scrambled eggs gingerly with his knife. "Pull her hair out, kick her off her broom, throw scissors at her. Whatever you want as long as you make it look like an accident."

"Throw scissors at her?" Pansy laughed. "That'll look like an accident. 'Oh, sorry professor, I was just doing a bit of scrapbooking before the match, completely slipped my mind I had all those scissors in my pocket.'"

"Snape would totally buy it." Blaise grinned wickedly. "He'd probably say he set the scrapbooking as a homework too."

"Mental images." Draco smiled. "Just these charming mental images mean it'd be totally worth it."

"Blaise, Blaise, Blaise Zabini." Theo grinned, peering up over his juice. "My sage advice. Don't stress it. You be a chaser, score loads of points for us to set us up top on the scoreboard, and leave Chang to our fine Beaters here." Theo nodded to Crabbe and Goyle over his glass, draining the last drop of juice.

"Ravenclaw aren't doing so well points wise anyway." Pansy gossiped chattily. "The whole debacle with the experimental spells club, not to mention the fact that Patrick the perfect prefect was caught in his girlfriend's bed by Sprout, that and the fact that no one likes a know-it-all, doesn't leave them looking so dapper."

"Gossip." Draco waved his hand absently. "Their real focus will be on Chang getting the snitch; especially as they know the longer they stay in a match against us, the more injuries they'll walk away with."

"Right." Blaise nodded. "So delay, delay, delay folks. We'll have them dropping like nargles." He flashed a cheeky grin over at the Ravenclaw table where Luna Lovegood sat, smiling absently back.

"Have you been talking to Loony again?" Pansy asked in a bored voice. Surprisingly enough, Luna also took Ancient Persian Ritual as an extra class, and she listened to Blaise far more often than he'd like to admit.

"Yes, and oddly enough, she'll be cheering for Slytherin today. I'm not sure if you could tell." Blaise nodded to the airy blonde who had a live serpent draped like a shawl around her shoulders. She was feeding it bits of toast and patting it, the rest of her housemates sitting a fair way away from the eccentric girl.

Pansy did a dramatic double take when she saw the python. "I don't know how I missed that." She muttered.

Theo began pouring tea out into the assembled cups in front of him, chatting as he poured.

"I don't know why we bother with tactics anymore. Just have Draco as cheerleader, or Slytherin mascot at the edge of the pitch. It worked for Bulgaria."

"Oh ha, ha." Draco laughed dryly. "Sadly, it only worked in your dreams Nott, especially seeing as Bulgaria didn't even win."

Theo smiled wistfully. "Ah, it was a good match though. I won forty galleons from that idiot Oliver Wood by guessing how many feints Krum would take. How many sugars everyone?"

"Two." Pansy said absently.

"Three for me." Draco nodded.

"A dash of honey?" Blaise motioned.

"No sugar, no milk." Millicent said.

"Cream and three sugars." Crabbe said.

"I've got coffee thanks." Goyle smiled.

"Righto." Theo nodded and added sugars to the appropriate cups. Still talking as he did so, he stirred the milk into each of the cups. "I still think you'd make a good cheerleader Draco."

"And you'd make a good dartboard Theo." Draco smiled pleasantly and accepted his cup.

"Seriously." Theo pressed on. "I can really see you with pom poms and a mini-skirt. Anyone?"

"Wow Theo and I thought you couldn't get any sicker." Blaise raised a critical brow and took a large gulp of his tea. He had his own reoccurring fantasies of dressing Draco in female attire, but he wouldn't share that with Theo. It would just give the boy even more damning information to use against him.

"Maybe the pom poms, but I doubt he could pull off the mini-skirt." Daphne drawled as she reached over the table and stole Blaise's cup.

"Hey, don't touch the man's things." Blaise reprimanded the coy Slytherin.

"I really love Daphne's jealous bitch routine." Draco nodded sublimely. "The actual chances of me in a mini-skirt are zero to none, but she still gets defensive."

"It's not defensive, it's serious concern." Daphne scowled. "If your boyfriend thinks it's fine to call someone else's name than mine in the middle of a particularly good blow job –"

"Spare us the slutty details Daphne." Pansy grinned cattishly at the other girl. "It's not always Draco's fault that gentlemen prefer blondes."

"Anyway, that's what you get for dating a Hufflepuff." Theo pointed out. "They're fickle idiots."

"Edward's not an idiot." Daphne scowled repetitively.

"With a name like Edward he'd have to be." Blaise grinned.

"Do you want me to throw this tea in your face? It's quite hot." Daphne motioned with the teacup.

"It's my tea anyway." Blaise frowned.

She took a sip. "Oh, and it's got honey in it. It's far too sweet for you, seems more like something Draco would drink."

"You can have my cup Blaise." Draco said lazily, handing his untouched cup over. "Speaking of sweet tea, Daph, you'll love this. Mother sent over some of that Turkish apple tea we had Christmas holidays last year."

"The one with the extra kick?" Daphne's eyes lit up, as did the rest of the Slytherins at the mention of the alcoholic liquid.

"That's the one." Draco grinned devilishly. "So I'm thinking tea party, with emphasis on the party."

Blaise took another hearty gulp of Draco's tea. Looking at the cup with satisfaction, he nodded. "I'm not one to fault your dubious choice in teas."

"Speaking of which, I'm bereft of my tea this morning. Daph, give me a sip of yours will you?" Draco leant over the table and whisked Daphne's tea away from where she'd left it near her plate.

"Oooh, you should be our seeker. Oh wait." She smiled at the deliberate emphasis that Draco was no longer allowed to play.

He frowned, and took a steadying sip of his tea. He looked over to the Gryffindor table while Pansy articulated some suitably bitchy comeback.

It didn't matter that he wouldn't be playing today. His other more secretive plan involving a picnic with the Gryffindor seeker served as a more than adequate alternative.

Harry must have felt his gaze, or else had been staring intermittently at Draco throughout the course of breakfast, Draco didn't mind which. The Gryffindor locked his eyes on Draco and offered him a charming smile. Draco looked away, hiding his smile as he took another leisurely sip of the honey sweetened tea.

Finishing the cup, he held it out to Theo imperiously.

"Tea, Theo."

Theo blinked and smiled sweetly. "I beg your pardon?"

Draco grinned in reply. "I'll repeat myself because I feel sorry for your unfortunate hearing impediment. Theodore Nott, purveyor of fine teas, fix me up your finest brew!"

Theo laughed in chorus with Blaise and Pansy. "Fine. Because you put it so nicely." He refilled Draco's cup and added the required numerous sugars.

"I'm always nice." Draco said with an innocent expression that looked odd to say the least on Draco's smooth face.

"Sure you are." Pansy grinned and worked her arm around Draco's waist.

"Oh, very nice." Theo nodded, handing the teacup over to Blaise, who took a reparative sip to make up for his spent cup before handing it to Draco.

"And not just nice to look at." Blaise growled in warning to Theo, who laughed briskly in return.

"Well, that goes without saying." Draco smiled smugly, blowing on his tea.

"You've got to be kidding me. Draco's not nice. He's worse than me." Daphne protested.

"And that's saying something." Goyle chimed in, leaving Crabbe to stare at him in puzzlement. He was the faster of the two. Mentally speaking.

"The main difference, Daphne, is that I don't have to fuck people for them to like me." Draco replied with a chipper grin.

"No, they just hope you will." Daphne replied cattily.

"Ah, I love our little talks Daphne. They're always so amusing." Draco tilted his head, smiling politely.

"Maybe Daphne should be our cheerleader. She could shout the players down. We just stand her by our goal posts and watch the opposition run away." Blaise smiled pleasantly, reaching for a banana to munch on.

"We could throw Daphne at Chang. Who needs scissors when confronted with her sharp tongue?" Pansy giggled, tugging Draco closer to her in a half hug.

Contrary to looking upset, Daphne seemed to swell with pride as she received each scathing accolade. Daphne liked her status as the bitchiest of the Slytherin girls. It helped serve her reputation, as she couldn't throw a decent hex to save her life. That was more Pansy's forte. No, what Daphne could do was throw emotional punches, and usually that involved getting partners to cheat on their loved ones and such.

"Be careful what you say Parkinson, or I'll do to your little boy toy what Blaise is doing to that banana."

Blaise choked a little on the banana he was biting, and a sort of coughing splutter sounded from each Slytherin at the table, as they knew making sexual comments about Draco was a massive faux pas.

"Be careful what you say Daphne, or I will personally rip every strand of your ratty coloured hair out of your head by hand, in the space of three and a half seconds." Pansy replied in a similarly threatening tone, a wicked smile in place as she continued to hold Draco in a half hug, the blonde boy looking drastically unaffected by the drama as he dropped more sugar cubes into his tea.

Daphne narrowed her eyes at Pansy, then slowly stood up away from the table to leave.

"Whatever Pansy." She tossed her hair and pranced off.

Draco looked up distractedly from his tea, now a sugary concoction as yet untested. "Daphne left? Well that was anti-climactic."

"What, would you rather a full on catfight over your honour, right here on the breakfast table?" Pansy pressed her lips together, as if trying not to smile.

"It wouldn't go amiss." Draco said mildly, bringing the tea to his lips.

"It would set a good example for the others too." Blaise nodded. "Especially with you holding Daphne's severed head by the hair at the end of the battle."

"In the Great Hall?" Pansy snickered.

"The Great Battle of the Great Hall." Theo dubbed it.

"Topless." Crabbe added with great enthusiasm.

He was then the recipient of several scathing looks, and he bowed his head in shame.

"Strange boy." Millicent shook her head, astounded.

Draco took a deep sip of his tea, then sighed in a satisfied manner.

"I love Earl Grey."

"Yes, yes." Blaise replied absently, reaching across the table for the marmalade. "And Earl Grey loves you."

Draco had no chance to reply to that, as promptly after his languishing sip, he dropped the delicate cup of tea and shattered the porcelain, spilling the sugary beverage across the table. He had dropped the tea, something that no Malfoy would ordinarily do, as he had suddenly plunged into a dead faint, falling backwards off the bench.

Pansy hastily caught him before his head could hit the floor, her half hug from earlier coming in handy now.

"Draco?" She exclaimed.

The noise in the hall had dimmed when the cup had shattered, and now it seemed all eyes were on the Slytherin table. Draco's body was limp. His eyes had closed as he fell, and he wasn't moving.

"Draco!" Pansy called again, fumbling with her friend's limp body.

Blaise stood up abruptly and snatched out his wand. "Who did it?" He yelled out to the hall.

On the high table, both Snape and Dumbledore were standing up, as were the Golden Trio on the Gryffindor table. They rushed towards Draco in the near silent hall.

The other Slytherins nearby rushed forward to help Pansy pick up Draco. This gave the rest of the hall a clear view of Draco's unconscious body.

"Draco, Draco, wake up." Pansy cried shrilly.

Theo had helped Pansy hoist Draco up, and the blonde's head was leaning on Theo's shoulder.

"The tea. Someone drugged his tea."

"It can't have been the tea. We all drunk from the tea." Millicent said with a frown.

"His cup spilled everywhere." Crabbe's brow knitted together in confusion.

"WHO DID IT?" Blaise roared again, pointing his wand at various students.

Snape and Dumbledore reached the table, and Snape immediately bent down to check on Draco.

"Pulse steady. Hint of –" Snape seemed to sniff the tea on Draco's breath. "Lavender, Belladonna. Silvina essence."

Dumbledore ran a withered finger over the tea on the tabletop, studied the liquid on his finger, then popped it in his mouth. Looking up he addressed Snape.

"Spell activated. Harmless for one to drink it without the matching curse."

"I've never seen this sort of behaviour with Silvina essence." Snape murmured.

"It may be something of a more sinister nature Severus." Dumbledore said gravely.

Pansy and the Slytherins looked fearfully from one professor to the other, following the grim conversation tentatively. The pounding sound of feet racing across the hall heralded the arrival of the Gryffindors to the scene.

"Is he alright?" Harry blurted out, an intensely worried expression on his face.

"Someone hexed his tea into sleeping potion." Pansy dutifully informed Harry, tears shining unshed in her eyes.

"I want to know who fucking did this to him!" Blaise shook with rage. Dumbledore put a reassuring hand on Blaise's shoulder, despite the scandalous look Snape gave Zabini for swearing in front of the headmaster.

Dumbledore put his wand to his throat, and declared in a magnified voice.

"No one is to leave the hall this morning, until this situation has been properly handled."

With a similar flick of his wand, the doors of the Great Hall slammed shut with an ominous thunking sound, locking every student inside the room.

A crescendo of groans sounded through the hall.

"But it's Quidditch!" Someone called out above the din.

"That's not fair!"

"He only fainted!"

"This is criminal!"

Dumbledore cast a significant gaze at all the students. "No one is to leave this hall until the perpetrators who drugged Mr Malfoy here with malicious intent come forward and accept the consequences. Such behaviour is not permitted at Hogwarts."

The groans increased in volume again, mainly from a few bitter dissidents. The majority of students' murmurs were of shock and confusion, especially the first years, who all looked remarkably frightened at the thought that a student who drugged someone with 'malicious intent' could be sitting in the same hall as them.

"Why would someone do this to him?" Ron pondered, his face in shock when confronted with how hopelessly lifeless Draco looked.

"So they could fucking rape him Weasley." Theo replied bitterly. "Why do you think?"

"No, I mean, if they wanted to, uh, you know, why would they knock him out during breakfast in the great hall in front of all these people." Ron said nervously, looking affronted in the face of Theo's strong reaction.

Pansy blinked, regarding Ron's logic. "Good point Weasel."

"I should have protected him." Harry said wistfully, kneeling down next to Theo's seat on the bench, holding Draco's wrist through the fabric of his jumper, sending wave after wave of comforting magic at the blonde without the risk of exposing his wings.

Blaise looked down at Harry soberly. He sighed, and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, feeling sympathy for his rival. "Me too. But he was drinking tea. We all drank it. How could we know he would get hurt again?"

"So this tea had a spell activated trigger?" Hermione asked. "Or did someone use a substitution charm to change the nature of the tea into sleeping potion?"

"It is no longer active on the tabletop." Snape frowned.

"Silvina essence doesn't deactivate." Hermione's frown now matched Snape's. "Could there be a similar potion that does?"

"We should discuss this, perhaps in the back room?" Dumbledore suggested politely.

Theo moved slightly, with the intention of shifting Draco so he could stand, but before he could, Harry reached down and picked Draco up, cradling the smaller boy in his arms and immediately turning to carry Draco to the back room of the hall.

"Uh, wait. Potter!" Pansy scrambled to her feet and hurried after him, as did the rest of the Golden Trio and the most concerned of the Slytherins. Blaise levelled his wand at the students in the room menacingly, before turning on his heel and storming out to the back room.

Snape swept up to the dais at the front of the hall, and sent a disgusted look at all the students. "Questioning will begin and you will answer as ordered. No one is to leave until we find the students responsible. The faster you admit to your crimes the faster we can all ... leave and get on with the rest of the day."

Dumbledore gave a swift nod to Professor McGonagall, and she followed him through to the back room. The remaining teachers warily got up to help Snape interrogate the students.

Harry felt comforted by holding Draco, the feel of the other boy's cooler body against Harry's chest sent calming waves of magic at him, capping his panic. It felt strange how limp Draco was in his arms, how his head lolled back on his shoulders and his arms dangled at his sides pointing loosely to the floor. The blonde was lighter than Harry had expected, and carrying him was nothing like a burden.

"Potter!" Pansy burst into the room, rushing forward to Draco and putting a cooling hand on his head. "Be careful with him."

"Knobbly looking couch, or cluttered looking table?" Harry asked, trying to find the most comfortable place for Draco to rest.

Pansy grimaced at the couch. "Table. Wait, let me –"She pulled her wand out and cleared the many trinkets and papers off the table, then she transfigured several sheets of paper into pillows and a squishy looking rug. Laying them out neatly on the table, she nodded to Harry. "There."

Harry gently placed Draco on the table, taking care to ease his head onto a pillow. Draco showed no sign of acknowledging the care, his eyes still closed and his body comatose.

"Did he wake up?" Blaise stupidly blurted when he reached the table.

"Of course he hasn't. It's been three minutes since he downed the stupid swill." Theo scowled, although he looked just as concerned and expectant when he first reached the table.

"Well, work harder to wake him up!" Blaise huffed. "I don't want his last words to be 'I love Earl Grey'."

"Of course not." Theo sneered. "You'd rather they were 'I love Blaise Zabini'."

"You shut your mouth Theo. We've been over this." Blaise snarled at Nott.

"Fighting won't help anything." Harry stated rather disdainfully, his lip had curled when Theo mentioned Draco loving Blaise Zabini.

"Trigger activated sleeping draughts." Hermione murmured to herself, pacing back and forth as she recalled pretty much everything she knew about sleeping draughts. Ron sat on the knobbly couch and watched her pace.

"Could we try envernate?" Pansy posited.

"Professor?" Harry looked up to check with Professor McGonagall who was covertly conversing with the headmaster.

"Yes Potter, give it a go." McGonagall waved in approval.

Harry tried the spell but Draco didn't wake. Harry scowled, and Pansy wailed rather dramatically.

"Draco, if you don't wake up right now I'm going to wear that dreadful feathered coat that you hate to your funeral, so you sure as hell better wake up!" She said loudly in his ear. No response.

"Don't talk about his fucking funeral Pans. You're killing him off before he's even dead." Blaise chastised.

"Well, all the other sleeping potion scares could be easily remedied quickly enough. Why does this one have to be the tricky one?" She pouted.

"What would they even accomplish, having him when he's like this? Our school has necrophiliacs now?" Theo muttered morbidly.

"Theo, I swear to god you're driving me insane." Blaise rubbed his forehead angrily.

"Well, who'd want to fuck him when he's dead? That's no fun." Theo continued as if he hadn't heard Blaise's grumblings.

"God, shut up about him! Don't talk about him, just keep your stupid gob shut!" Blaise snapped.

"Weasel's right though." Theo grumbled. "They'd have to be pretty stupid if they cocked this up. They could have given him potion on a timer, and nabbed him when he left the hall, rather than this hideous mess."

"You've thought about this, haven't you?" Blaise said suspiciously.

"It may have crossed my mind once or twice." Theo muttered dismissively.

"You're sick, you know that?" Blaise scowled at his fellow Slytherin.

"What? Everyone's thinking it!"

Harry could feel a vein throbbing in his head and he wondered if this was why Draco's eyebrow twitched so often. It seemed easy to develop a twitch in Slytherin.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Hermione cried out jubilantly.

"Got what?" Blaise asked severely.

"A bad case of the heebijeebies. Don't yell like that, I don't need a heart attack, I'm playing keeper this afternoon." Theo grumbled good naturedly.

"I will murder you." Blaise said definitively at Theo.

"Er, that's nice. Um, Harry," Hermione turned to her friend, who was standing near the edge of the table, holding Draco's wrist like a lifeline. "I know you don't like doing this, but maybe if you... um, ordered Draco to wake up. Like how it worked the first time he was out like this."

The room when quiet for a while, then Pansy's face lit up.

"Granger, you're a genius!"

Harry looked genuinely startled. "You think it would work?"

"You could give it a try." Ron said from his seat on the couch.

The Slytherin boys stared pleadingly at Harry, and even the two professors in the corner stopped their brainstorming to focus on him. Harry worried that his magic might not be enough. Biting his lip, he turned to face Draco, and grasped onto his wrist again.

"Uh, Draco? Wake up?" He said. Draco didn't move.

"Stronger Harry. You need to say it with authority." Hermione coached him.

"Wake up." Harry said, his voice stronger this time. Draco gave a low groan and moved around on the table a little bit. Pansy gave a squeal of relief and clapped her hands.

"Again, again!" She commanded.

"Wake up." Harry repeated.

Draco mumbled a string of inarticulate words and tried to roll over, intent on going back to sleep.

"Add caption; does this thing have a snooze button?" Theo said jokingly.

"What is he, taking the piss?" Ron queried crossly.

"Wake up Draco." Harry said again, uncertain but pretty sure that Draco could actually wake up from this.

"Mmmggghh – what time is it?" Draco mumbled, his eyelids still closed.

The occupants of the room let out a collective groan.

"He's not dead. Everyone. He's not dead." Theo said waving his hands in the air as if he averted the crisis.

"Of course he's not bloody dead. When have you ever seen a dead person do that?" Ron asked, frustrated with the Slytherin boy's ceaseless optimism about the incident.

"Once, on a family holiday in Bruges." Theo answered casually.

"Oh, just – rrrrrrh!" Hermione seethed. "We've all been worried sick and you just keep making jokes!"

"It's how I cope." Theo said with a smile. "Besides, this is just like every other morning for Draco."

"He does not get drugged every other morning." Blaise said tersely, as though his teeth were gritted and his palms were clenched, which they were.

"He just takes forever to wake up." Theo nodded as though it were obvious. Pansy gave a startled giggle hysterically, relieved.

"Wakey wakey Drakie." She poked her friend in the side.

Harry then decided that if Draco was just rolling around now for the fun of it, when he had been on tenterhooks all morning because of him, then he could get up right now in as abrupt a manner as Harry could provide for him.

"God Draco, wake up!" Harry said, and pushed his hand onto Draco's. Skin contact, pure and simple. And Draco was thrust from the table by the force of his wings ripping through fabric of his clothes, the same as the magic ripped through his body, jolting him awake.

"Mmmmarrrghhhamana!" Draco yelled incoherently as he sat up, blinking and panting. "Mmm- HARRY!"

"You took your time." Harry breathed a sigh of relief and smiled his most charming smile at Draco, who sat blinking at him with an outraged expression on his face.

Draco blinked for a moment longer, then launched himself at Harry, knocking them both off the table just as Professor Snape entered the room with a small group of sheepish, bespectacled sixth year Ravenclaw nerds.

"It appears these are the perpetrators – What on earth are they doing?"

Draco had latched himself onto Harry, who was looking both startled and dreamlike on the floor, and was kissing patterns up his neck.

"It's our fault professor!" One of the nervous Ravenclaws admitted.

"We mixed a lust potion with the sleeping potion, so he'd pounce on whomever he saw when he woke up." Another one explained.

Blaise hurried over to Draco and tried to remove him from Harry, but Draco shrugged Blaise off and continued his relentless ravaging of Harry's neck.

Hermione took one look at Harry's shocked face and burst into peals of laughter to which Ron watched, incredulous.

"Well, it should work on anyone he sees." The Ravenclaw boy frowned. "Was there an error in the potion?"

Snape gave the boy a venomous look and smacked him on the back of the head.

Draco was still crawling on top of Harry, kissing his way up his mates jaw. Harry couldn't help the odd moan he made here and there, but he did make a conscious effort not to take advantage of Draco, especially if his reaction was fuelled by a lust potion.

"Draco, Draco stop it. Snap out of it." Blaise was calling to Draco and tugging on his arm, but Draco ignored his friend and swung a leg over Harry's body, pressing into him. Harry let out a sharp gasp and suddenly Pansy screeched with laughter.

"Oh, this is too rich. This is – hilarious. This is like –"

"It's not hilarious, he's out of his mind!" Blaise yelled back.

Dumbledore was watching with his usual twinkle lighting his eye, and he smiled to Minerva.

"I think, yes – Mr Malfoy's predicament has been dealt with, don't you agree?"

McGonagall hid a laugh by turning it into a cough. From the look on Snape's face, laughing was the furthest thing he could think of right now, as he watched his favourite student being inexplicably drawn to his least favourite student. It was quite the erotic sight. Snape immediately shook himself out of that train of thought and focussed on shaking the nearest Ravenclaw.

"Antidote. Now."

"We didn't make an antidote sir. It's not a conventional potion."

"Well then create an antidote."

"The potion is volatile. Experimental. We didn't add the usual measures of ingredients." One Ravenclaw boy squeaked.

"Have you not got it into your thick skulls by now that each potion has an equal and opposite anti-potion? You will work with me and we will produce the quickest working antidote possible." Snape growled menacingly.

"But, well, we didn't add the two measures of Veela essence, er, because we figured he would already have enough Veela essence already. That's how we triggered it to only work for him."A Ravenclaw explained nervously.

Snape flicked out his wand rather crossly, and summoned two vials of liquid from his store cupboard.

"We will have to make do with this then. One pep-up potion, so he does not revert to unconsciousness." He said, squinting sinisterly at the Ravenclaws all the while. Probably to give him something to stare at other than Harry and Draco. They were putting on quite a show.

"Ah, he shouldn't conk out after he has initially been woken up." A Ravenclaw boy offered helpfully.

"Nevertheless." Snape said coolly, he didn't take well to being questioned by a student. "And the standard anti-lust potion, with a pinch of Apollo's citrus. Just enough to burn off the amount of his Veela essence that has interacted with your potion."

"That should work Severus." Dumbledore clapped in a satisfied way.

"Between two to three hours, yes." A Ravenclaw said, as though he had solved a particularly difficult equation.

"How would you like two to three years in Azkaban?" Snape snarled severely. The Ravenclaws blanched and Dumbledore waved them over.

"Quite right. There is still the issue of your punishments to be decided. Come with me to Professor Vector's office then, boys." The Ravenclaws trudged sullenly over to the headmaster, and turned to go out the side door when one of the Ravenclaws stopped.

"Just out of interest –"He addressed his question to Harry, who was struggling to stop Draco from disrobing him. "-What does it feel like, to be kissed by a Veela?"

Harry frowned and sat up to glare at the Ravenclaw, pushing Draco off him as he glared.

"Don't you ever come near him again." He growled.

The Ravenclaw opened his mouth to speak, but closed it abruptly when he saw the same angry fire in Harry's eyes. He darted quickly out of the room without a backward glance.

"Well he'll be running for England." Theo grinned at the place where the Ravenclaw had fled.

Draco was still kissing Harry's neck as though his life depended on it. He hadn't said a word since he first woke up, nothing past the initial 'Harry', instead he made breathy desperate noises as he clung to Harry's skin.

"Ok, can someone get him off me? He'll regret this later." Harry sighed and started pushing Draco earnestly away from him.

"Care for some, antidote?" Pansy picked up the two vials and wiggled them enticingly.

"That should be the correct amount. He should take all of it." Snape said in a bored tone of voice, although he was expressly looking away from the sordid scene on the floor.

"Is Quidditch back on again?" Theo asked Snape in a bored voice.

"It has been delayed, but yes Nott, it will be back on today." Snape replied, and moved to the door leading to the hall. "Miss Parkinson, look after him until he is fully recovered. He should not be out of the dorms until then."

"Yes Professor." Pansy said sweetly, moving to kneel beside Draco and Harry.

Snape had a last disdainful but lingering glance at the students in the room, and then swept out the door with a definite sneer.

"We have to be at the pitch in half an hour." Blaise fretted, looking from the clock on the wall and back to Draco several times.

"We'll give him the potion and take him away then." Pansy nodded, and threaded her fingers around Draco's wrists, pulling them away from Harry's shirt.

Hermione and Ron sidled closer to help restrain the lust-crazed Slytherin. Taking care not to touch his wings, they pulled him back from Harry.

"Thanks guys." Harry said, trying to hide the disappointment in his tone. He didn't want to separate himself from his mate, but he wanted Draco to love him, not just lust for him, and in order to win him properly he couldn't take advantage of him like that.

Draco's pupils were dilated and needy. He wriggled and writhed against his restraints, struggling all the while to get back to Harry. He let out a whimper at losing the skin contact he wanted.

"Ha." Laughed Theo. "I've never seen Draco this hot for someone. He must have a thing for idiots with stupid scars and haircuts."

"It's a lust potion Nott. He doesn't mean it." Blaise said determinately.

"Well I don't see him lusting after you." Theo pointed out bluntly.

"Enough. We need to get him calm enough to take the potions." Pansy said placating her friends hastily.

"Harry, you should order him again. He's not in his right mind anyway and I doubt he'd listen to anything else." Hermione told him, looking curiously at Draco's lust-wild face with some satisfaction.

"Right." Harry nodded, then cupped Draco's face in his hands. Draco immediately nuzzled into them, and made a noise almost like a rumbling purr. "Draco. Calm down. Look at me. I need you to take these potions. Drink it all down for me. That's better."

Draco swallowed the potion obediently when Pansy placed it to his lips. He finished both vials and sat calmly, watching Harry through half lidded eyes.

"Do you – do you think he's normal now?" Theo asked curiously.

"I don't know. Do you think its lust or the bond that's making him look at Harry like that?" Hermione mused quietly.

Pansy pouted. "There's only one way to find out. Let him go."

"What?" Blaise reacted.

"Be ready for him Potter." Pansy said, grinning. "We'll let him go now."

The hands that held Draco back slowly left him, and Draco remained sitting where he was and staring expectantly at Harry. The room waited with baited breath.

"Well?" Theo said. "Is he cured?"

"Draco?" Pansy watched her friend's still features curiously.

Then, with a sudden predatory move, Draco pounced forward onto Harry and attempted to place a claiming kiss on his lips. Harry blocked the kiss with his hand, and held the hand over Draco's mouth.

"Didn't work." Harry said, informing the room unnecessarily.

Draco whimpered against Harry's hand and strained forward to press a kiss on Harry's lips.

"No." Harry whispered into Draco's searching eyes. "Not like this. It'll happen, but not like this."

Draco then let out a mewl of discontent, but allowed himself to be pulled away from Harry and sat cloying to Pansy, staring at his mate with accusing eyes.

"Well, has he calmed down, or is he still lustful?" Theo said with a spark of humour in his voice.

"He's calm." Hermione stated. "Can he talk again? Has the potion got that far yet?"

"Draco?" Pansy turned her head to Draco, whilst holding him in her typical half-hug. Draco was hugging her back, his arms twisted around her waist, capitalising on her skin contact if he couldn't have Harry's.

He shot a baleful look at his mate, then determinedly kissed Pansy passionately on the lips. Pansy's eyes fluttered in shock, then closed, giving into the kiss.

"I should have been sitting there." Theo whispered in awe. Blaise briskly smacked Theo over the head and marched over to Draco, hauling him off Pansy, who remained blinking and dazzled on the floor. Draco didn't seem fussed who pulled him away, and turned to Blaise, latching onto his neck.

Blaise looked shocked and rather weak at the knees, but he motioned to Hermione for help.

"Ugh, Granger. Move him, he's not right."

Hermione moved to tug Draco away from Blaise and was followed by Ron, who was eager to avert the murderous glare from Harry's eyes. Draco allowed himself to be pulled away from Blaise and stood pouting for a while, sending mental daggers of jealousy at his mate.

Blaise regarded Draco with astonishment as he stood, rubbing his neck.

"He's not attacking you two."

"Maybe it's because he doesn't know you so well, here let me hold him." Theo said confidently.

"Stop it, you." Blaise snarled at Theo, and the cheeky Slytherin smiled back.

Hermione moved the blonde to the couch, and looked over to Harry.

"He's doing it for your attention Harry. It's traditional Veela jealousy patterns."

"What, by snogging everyone in sight?" Ron frowned. "That's more lust potion. Fleur doesn't snog me every time she gets mad at Bill."

"I wonder why?" Theo drawled lazily, watching the two Gryffindors restrain Draco, standing upright near the couch.

Ron stood tall and felt a need to defend his pride. "I'll have you know Veela are suckers for Weasley men."

As Ron stepped forward however, Hermione toppled back as Draco straddled her lap and tasted her tongue.

"Is that what he's doing then? Granger doesn't look like a Weasley."Theo giggled hysterically. The outraged expression on both Gryffindor's faces was too much.

"Get off Hermione!" Ron shouted, throwing his arms in the air with little real idea of what to do.

Hermione made several awkward murmuring sounds as Draco devoured her mouth. She seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit.

"Right, that's enough."

Harry finally got to his feet and heaved Draco away from his friend, trapping the blonde in his arms. Harry stood behind Draco and had his arms tightly squeezed around the blonde's torso, preventing him from moving.

Hermione sat up, her hair wild and her lips looked oddly swollen.

"Wow." She muttered absently.

Ron was still spluttering in a murderous fashion, and Theodore went over and placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. Neither of them had shared a kiss from Draco, although Ron was fuming that the Veela boy had kissed Hermione.

"There there." Theo said wistfully. "I feel your pain."

"Right. We'll lock him in his dorm until he levels out." Harry said gruffly, trying to hold Draco still as he twisted in Harry's arms, brushing his wings against Harry's face, trying to lick his neck.

"There could be people in his dorm. We don't want to release him onto the unsuspecting public." Pansy pointed out, getting up from where she sat on the floor.

"He can't just have sex with anyone." Hermione said, straightening her blouse, where once again several buttons had mysteriously come undone. "Veela sex is addictive. Unless you're a very powerful wizard, or witch, you lose your mind to the allure."

"We don't need any more Veela nuts running around." Blaise said solemnly.

Harry nodded, thinking. Draco wiggled up against him enticingly, and Harry gritted his teeth, tightening his hold on Draco.

"We'll take him somewhere else then. Fourth floor, guys." Harry said tersely, trying to resist Draco's advances.

The group moved in convoy, the Slytherins in front hexing a path through the corridors and the Gryffindors casting charms behind them so the few students lingering in the castle instead of on the pitch didn't notice the horny Veela in the middle of the convoy being pulled through the corridors roughly by Harry. They reached the fourth floor successfully and the door to the Veela room immediately materialised.

"There. We can keep him in here until he's calm enough to come out." Harry said.

"What, we leave him in there alone?" Pansy asked cautiously.

"We can't leave anyone in there with him." Hermione said logically. "They won't be safe."

"Remember my sacrifice. I'll go in with him." Theo said with a smile.

"Why are you still here?" Blaise asked in an annoyed tone.

Draco seemed oblivious to the conversation, and seemed to react more instinctually once in range of the door. The dilated pupils had dimmed, but the unnerving silver Veela light shone with a bright intensity in its place. He had curled his wings around Harry's body and his allure was blaring. It made it very hard for Harry to think. Especially with Draco keening and nipping his neck every so often. The price of getting Draco to walk peaceably to the Veela room was letting him cling to Harry, and now Harry was pretty certain a colourful love bite decorated his neck.

"Someone open the doors, and be ready to close them quickly." Harry said, gingerly sliding his hands down to pry Draco from his body. Ron and Hermione took one door handle and held it open, Pansy and Blaise took the other while Theo stood to the side and muttered ridiculous things like "Into the abyss" and "Take me with you".

"Will you wait until he's normal again so he can be let out?" Harry asked Pansy.

"Yes. How will I know when he's normal?" She answered.

"Well, he doesn't seem to be able to talk." Hermione mused. "When he talks I reckon you can let him out."

"Ok, so on three?" Blaise queried.

"Just a sec." Harry said, then focused on Draco. The blonde was regarding Harry through shining silver eyes, his head tilted to the side, his expression reminded Harry of how Hedwig looked at him when he brought her food. The white wings that were reaching out from the blonde only added to the effect.

"Draco." Harry looked him in the eye, searching for a remnant of the Draco he knew rather than the Veela in front of him. "This is only temporary, and it's to help you so you can be yourself, and not do something you'll regret because of this lust potion. Ok? So as soon as you're back in control, we can let you out."

Draco tilted his head and blinked. Harry took this as acceptance.

"Alright, we're going in. Be ready." Harry said, and walked into the room with Draco trailing alongside him with a fascinated expression on his face.

The walls of the Veela room heaved as they felt the Veela lust and instinctual baseness they desired. A lusty Veela and his mate were always welcome in the Veela room.

Harry led Draco to the middle enclave and pushed him down on the cushions, kneeling with him.

Draco happily fell to the cushions and looked expectantly at his mate's face above him, smiling trustingly at him. Draco was submitting.

His mate looked far from happy. This wasn't right. A tiny furrow appeared between Draco's brows as Harry looked sadly upon him.

"I'm sorry." Harry murmured.

Draco blinked, his Veela side making way for his other cognitive functions for a moment to figure out what upset his mate. He tried to reach a hand out, to comfort his mate.

"I have to go." Harry said, and Draco's hand was pushed away.

Harry got up and sped to the door, sprinting. Draco cried out, a raw animalistic noise of rejection and hurt.

"Close them. Quickly! Go. Go. Go!" Harry yelled as he reached the doors, hearing Draco's wail.

Behind him Draco's wings snapped to attention as he realised his mate was locking him in the room. Using his wings for momentum, Draco propelled himself to the door, only for it to close just inches away from him. Regardless of that fact, Draco slammed into the door and felt it give, then shut more firmly. Voices could be heard from the other side of the door.

"It's locked."

"Was that Draco? I heard a bang!"

"He was chasing me." That voice was definitely his mates. Draco let out a doleful cry that echoed in the cavernous room, sure that they heard it outside.

There was a pause.

"Sounds painful."

"He's not in his right mind."

"It will hurt him more if he were out here."

"Mmm, but Harry's his mate. Maybe it would be comforting for him to know that you're nearby."

"He doesn't need to fixate on Potter, he needs to forget him until this lust potion wears off."

Draco decided that if he made a lot of noise that would help, as the voices outside the door seemed to respond to noise. Draco banged his fists on the door and let out another mournful moan.

"Maybe I should stay." That was Harry's voice, and Draco had a moment of private victory.

"That won't help him focus."

"It's alright. I'll be here with him." A female voice.

"Yeah?"

"You guys go. Go and watch the Quidditch. I'll look after him."This was the female voice again. Draco kept pounding his fists upon the sturdy door.

"Do you want me to wait with you?" Another female voice. No sound from his mate. Perhaps he'd already left. Draco made a high keening noise to draw his mate's attention.

"Don't you want to watch the match?"

"Yeah, we'll be beating the shit out of those Ravenclaw rapists."

"I don't much like Quidditch. It's very violent."

"This match will be." A male voice growled.

"No, I'll stay here. Tell Dean for me, will you Harry?"

"Yeah." His mate's voice. He hadn't left him yet. "I'll tell him. Shit, the desserts."

"Oh." The female voice said.

"It'll be ok. Dean loves cooking anyway." A rough male voice. Not his mate's.

"Do you reckon he'd make them again? You know, when –"

"You know Dean, he wouldn't mind. You go Harry. Don't worry. We might be out soon anyway. Who knows, Snape's citrus could burn the potion off really quickly."

His mate was leaving. Draco panicked.

Outside the door, Harry stood with Ron, and wore a pained expression as he heard the noises coming from inside the door. He couldn't get over how much trust Draco showed him, that look he gave him earlier had affected the Gryffindor far more than all the suggestive wiggling Draco had done earlier. It was a lust potion. Harry reminded himself crossly. Still, lust wasn't synonymous with trust. If Harry could ever get Draco to look at him like that again after this, he would die a happy man. He would make sure to win his trust back, so Draco could look at him like that again.

Ron could see Harry was lingering, and he agreed with Blaise on this one. It wouldn't be good for either of them to fixate on this. He'd take Harry to the Quidditch; give him a few drinks like a good friend would, and help him forget about Malfoy and his odd penchant for attracting trouble and other people's girlfriends.

Zabini and Nott were standing with them too, as they were already late for warm-ups at the pitch. Blaise saw this as a cruel-to-be-kind situation, and still reeled, shell-shocked as it were from Draco's sudden burst of affection to him earlier. Sure, he had lavished affection on the blonde in the past, but he never returned the favour.

He was rather jealous of Pansy's kiss, especially as Draco kissed her back often. It was a throwback to their dating days, that if Pansy wanted a kiss from Draco, he obligingly kissed her back.

Blaise was confused, but he tried to focus, as he had a Quidditch match to win, and revenge to take.

"Go to the match. Win for him, ok?" Pansy said to Blaise with a smile.

"You look after him." Blaise nodded to the girls, and, satisfied they would be adequate guards, walked down the corridor with Theo pacing lazily beside him to the pitch.

Harry stared at the door for a while longer, agonizing over the frantic sobbing noises sounding from inside the room.

"C'mon mate." Ron said, clapping a hand on Harry's shoulder. "If we wait any longer you can bet Seamus will eat all the food."

"It's a shame we couldn't have this picnic go smoothly." Pansy said. "He was really looking forward to it, even though he'd never say it."

"Yeah." Harry said. "I hope he gets better soon."

"See you Har –"Hermione began, but she was cut off by a loud wail from within the Veela room.

"Don't leave me!"

The girls froze, and Harry's eyes widened in surprise.

"Please don't leave me here!"

"Did he – talk?" Pansy choked out.

"Let me out! Please!"

"Draco? Draco!" Pansy panicked, turning to fumble with the door handle.

"Wait!" Hermione stayed her hand. "We don't know if he's normal yet."

"He's talking, you said if he talks he's normal."

"It could be a trick." Hermione said. She leaned close to the door and put her head up near the side of it. Harry and Ron watched her with a growing sense of unease.

"Draco? Are you alright?"

"No." He replied in the same wailing tone. It was the sort of tone that evoked sympathy and was frequented by toddlers and manipulative children.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't get out of the room. I'm locked in. Let me out."

"Draco, you see, we can't let you out until we know you're not a danger to yourself, or anyone else. Has the lust potion worn off?"

"I think so. Please. I don't like it in here."

Hermione frowned. She drew her wand out and traced several complicated patterns in the air. Harry's worry for his mate grew.

"Hermione, maybe we should let him out. I didn't think things through enough. He really doesn't like the Veela room."

"Harry, Harry thank god! Open the door. I hate it in here."

Harry took a step forward, but Hermione held a hand out, signalling for him to stop. Ron placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, and shook his head cautiously when Harry fixed him with a quizzical look.

"Draco?" Hermione called again. There was a silence from the other side of the door, and then Harry could feel what Hermione was sensing. The overbearing crush of Veela magic, emanating from the door.

"He's manipulating us." Hermione said briskly. "Go to Quidditch Harry. He's nowhere near healed at the moment."

"No, don't leave me Harry! Don't listen to her. Help me!"

Now that Harry was aware of it, he could hear the chiming quality of Veela magic in Draco's speech. It had that same lyrical quality that often seeped into Draco's laugh. It rung in Harry's head and he could feel it tugging on his free will, pressuring him to open the door.

"Occlumency Pansy." Hermione told the Slytherin girl, who looked decidedly clued in by now, and sent suspicious looks to the door. "Goodbye Harry." Hermione said loudly in a theatrical fashion, giving Harry a significant look. "Have fun at Quidditch."

The chiming voice started sobbing now, enticing Harry to stay and comfort his mate. Harry saw the significant look in Hermione's eye and could tell she was up to something. Ron seemed to get it too, for he was playing along, speaking in an overly loud theatrical manner.

"Right 'Mione. See you later. Me and Harry will be off now."

"Don't go. Stay. Stay with me."

"Oh, er, bye then." Harry said awkwardly.

Hermione mimed walking away and made stomping noises with her feet. Pansy seemed clued in and pretended to stomp away too, gesturing with her hands for Harry and Ron to step away from the door. The voice behind the door sobbed louder, and then a pounding of fists sounded on the door.

"Well, I guess he's gone now." Pansy said loudly to Hermione.

Draco's voice screeched through the door, and it was bereft of its alluring quality, instead full of malice and venom steeped in the heavy magic. It reminded Harry of the other side of the Veela he had seen at the world cup.

"Don't fuck with me you heinous bitches, bring him back!"

Hermione raised her eyebrow at Harry and grinned, proving her point that Draco was still affected by the potion.

"He's gone now Draco. All that's left is to wait out your potion." She said smugly.

"Don't fucking lie to me, I can feel him on the other side of this fucking door!"

Harry exchanged a worried look with Ron. His friend shrugged, and looked to Hermione.

"Maybe we should go." Harry said doubting his previous conviction.

"Harry, Harry, no. Don't go. Don't leave me. Come here. Come to me."

"Merlin, it's like fucking siren call." Ron muttered, running a hand through his hair. Harry often forgot how susceptible Ron was to Veela magic.

"Come to me. I promise you'll like it Harry. You can do whatever you like to me. I don't mind. Harry!"

It suddenly became clear why Harry had to leave. He couldn't stay when Draco was like this. Taking advantage of him was something that Harry didn't want to do. Harry wanted, as much as it pained him to admit it, even to himself, he wanted Draco to love him. He wanted Draco to reciprocate his love, and if he was to win him, it wouldn't be by hurting him now.

"Keep it in your pants Draco." Pansy muttered with a catty grin.

"Right. We're going." Harry said determinately.

"No Harry, don't go. Don't go. Please. I need you."

"Don't let him delay you. We'll keep him company." Pansy said with an eye roll as she heard scratches at the door. "You're not a dog Draco." She called out to him.

"Harry, Harry!"

"Bye." Harry said, and practically ran down the corridor, dragging Ron with him. He could still hear Draco shouting, the intense allure wrapped around his every word. It didn't stop until he reached the pitch, and even then the faint echo still reached him.

Back at the Veela room, Hermione conjured several chairs to sit on and the girls sat back to listen to the tirade die down.

At first Draco ranted and railed for Harry to come back, pleading as if Harry could still hear him.

Then he had taken to insulting Pansy and Hermione for separating him from his mate.

After that the lust-potion had him propositioning the girls, and Hermione had to remind herself firmly that she had a boyfriend, and it was not the descriptive blonde in the other room with the sordid imagination.

Pansy laughed at most of the insults, and even more at the dirty-talk. The time the girls spent together formed a more solid friendship than existed before. Shared trauma, Pansy called it.

"Don't you want me? To feel me inside of you? I promise you'll be screaming my name, and I know for a fact how loud you can scream."

"Give it a break Draco. You scream louder than me anyway, and I highly doubt you'd even give me the time of day now you've got Potter." She laughed. Hermione looked at her curiously at the wistful mention of Harry.

"So you've had sex with Draco before?" she asked.

"Mmm mmm." Pansy shook her head dismissively. "Everything but though, back when we were dating."

"I bet I can make Harry scream. You'd like that, wouldn't you Granger? To hear us together. As a gift to you, I'll make Harry scream, just let me out of this room. I'll do everything you've ever fantasised about, but could never say. I'd do that for you Granger."

"He's very... um... vocal, isn't he?" Hermione swallowed, feeling a blush tingling her cheeks.

"Ha ha, he's embarrassing himself, really. He's always little man manners, and if he heard himself talking like this to a lady – a lady he respected anyway – he would be mortified." Pansy replied.

"Do you like me 'vocal' Granger? Do you like what I can do with my mouth? I can do a lot with my mouth."

"Sort of makes you miss the crying, doesn't it?" Pansy laughed.

The dirty talk continued, and eventually died down to more sobbing and wailing, and finally, when Draco spoke he sounded like himself, with every bit of the allure gone from his voice. He sounded sick to be honest.

"Eurgh. Oh god. My head hurts."

"Hmmm? What's this? He sounds normal, whatever that means." Pansy commented lightly. It had taken three hours. Surprisingly, the Quidditch didn't seem to have ended, as no students were seen in the corridor.

A retching noise sounded from the other room. Draco threw up.

"Gross." He said thickly.

"Do you think it was the odd combination of potions?" Hermione pondered.

"That one in the tea did have Belladonna in it." Pansy joined her fellow guard in her musing.

There was a timid knocking on the door.

"Uh, Pansy. Can you vanish that? I can't find my wand." Draco asked, his voice hoarse from yelling earlier.

"Are you better?" Pansy asked.

"Be more specific with the term 'better'." He croaked from behind the door.

"Step back then. I wouldn't want to vanish any of your clothes by accident." She giggled, her grin sardonic from boredom.

"It's right next to the door." Draco said, with obvious disgust in his voice.

"Evanesco." Pansy focused and pointed her wand. "Did it work?"

"It's gone. I can't find my socks though."

"Spoils of war." Pansy muttered to herself in a sing-song voice.

"How do we test if the potion's gone?" Hermione looked at the door with interest.

"Draco? Do you feel like having sex with anything right now?" Pansy called out to her friend.

Mutinous muttering could be heard from the room, followed by a louder, sullen. "No."

"Are you telling the truth?" Hermione called to him.

"I feel like dying. How's that for you, Granger?" Draco's scowl was audible.

"Answer the question Drakie, and we might let you out." Pansy chimed.

"Yes, I'm fucking telling the truth. I need a shower. I feel like shit." Draco griped from within the chamber.

"I'll put some wards up and we'll test it out." Hermione said. She brandished her wand and cast some complex looking spells. Then she nodded to Pansy and they opened the door and peered inside.

Draco stood a fair way away from the door looking rather dishevelled, although still as stunningly beautiful as he always was. His wings were retracted and his skin looked like it had been covered with trails of tears and sweat just recently. The back of his shirt was ripped though, and his hair was a mess, quite different from his norm of pristine hair perfection. He wore shoes, but the absence of socks was noted.

"You feeling ok Drake?" Pansy questioned tentatively.

"No." He scowled and crossed his arms.

"Rephrase, you feeling lusty Drake?"

"No." He repeated with similar venom.

"Oh, I've got the test." Hermione said brightly. "Draco, what do you want to do to Harry right now?"

Pansy cheered and Draco blanched, before his scowl took a new direction.

"I want to kill him slowly for locking me in here."

"Excellent." Hermione cheered. Draco raised his eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "You know what I meant."

"So I'm free to go?" He asked.

Pansy walked up to him and deliberately touched his lips. When he recoiled from her touch instantly, she nodded.

"He's free to go."

"Finally. " Draco brushed Pansy off and stormed over to the door. Pansy giggled and she followed him out, Hermione trailing behind her.

Draco paced furiously to the dungeons, and when they reached the portrait hole, Hermione hesitated.

"Should I – I'll just wait out here, shall I?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Granger. It's just another dorm." Draco said, grabbing her arm and pulling her through the passageway as he murmured the password. He released Hermione once they made it through the portrait hole. Walking briskly across the common room floor, he strode to the stairwell, talking as he went. "Besides, I need you both to come to the dorm room with me. There might still be someone here."

Hermione surveyed the decadence of the Slytherin common room as she walked. She hadn't been there before, unlike Harry and Ron, and so seeing the room was a new experience for her. She wondered how often people from other houses came here. It seemed much more casual than in Gryffindor house. Hermione wasn't sure if the Gryffindors had ever let someone from another house just amble into their common room. For some reason, she saw the common room as more of a stronghold, and felt rather silly now that she knew other houses didn't feel the same. The dorms had passwords for Merlin's sake.

Despite the fact that it was in a dungeon, it had a lavish feel to the place. The leather lounges and finely engraved tables were very classy, and the numerous silver candelabras that provided light to the subterranean rooms only served to accentuate the luxury. There were several roaring fireplaces positioned about the room, each one encircled with an array of lounges, and over in the corner was a small kitchen area flanked by a mammoth walk-in pantry.

"I see the pantry." Hermione nodded to the wooden storage area.

"Yes, it's nice, isn't it?" Pansy smiled at the pantry, as though it had served her through some tough times.

"Hurry up. There'll be time to take in the scenery later." Draco scowled and ushered the girls up the stairs. He sped through the numerous corridors and passageways and opened his dorm room door, holding his wand out in front of him all the way.

"I never realised how careful you'd have to be, even in your own dormitory." Hermione mused as she followed Draco to his room.

"Yes, he has to be." Pansy replied, then chuckled, sitting on the edge of a bed in the centre of the room. "Learnt that the hard way at first though, didn't we Draco?"

Draco grumbled incoherently and started piling cleaning potions onto his towel, adding clothes and slippers.

"What happened at first?" Hermione asked, sitting on the bed with Pansy.

"Oh, Draco was coming to my room to ask me where I put his Arithmancy notes, and he got dragged into the dorm room next to mine. Molested by a bunch of hyped up third year girls. It was very funny."

"It was not." Draco glared at his friend, his tone offended. He stood by the door, his bathroom supplies in his arms.

Pansy slid off the bed and nodded to Hermione. "You can come too. This is the fun part. Where we get to scout out the showers so it's all clear for Draco."

Hermione followed Pansy down the hall where she chatted endlessly.

"I love doing this, especially when there is someone in the shower, or if they want a shower. Cause then I can tell them to sod off and even if they're naked or sudsy they have to do it because I have Snape's express permission."Pansy continued gleefully.

Draco stopped outside the door. "You go in first."

"Goodness. You'd think it was a military operation." Hermione exclaimed, smiling teasingly, earning a scathing look from Draco.

Pansy peered around the door. "No one seems to be in here. You're clear for now."

The trio filed into the boys showers and had a more thorough examination of the stalls.

"No peeping toms hiding in the cubicles. Alright. You're good to go, c'est bien Dracoooo Malfoi!" Pansy declared.

"I'll show you Malfoi in a minute." Draco growled. "Now get out of here. Don't let anyone in."

Pansy strolled out, whispering to Hermione. "He always gets so cranky when his hair's messy."

"Out!"Draco reiterated. The girls retreated and locked the door with several locking charms. They waited outside the door for the duration of Draco's very long shower and no one came exploring. When Draco came out of the showers, after giving Pansy 'the secret knock' he was looking much happier in slippers and silk pyjamas, his hair wet and his face flushed.

"Back to the room." Pansy announced unnecessarily as Draco returned to his dorm room to tidy up. Hermione was following the two anyway.

Draco then spent a good fifteen minutes in front of a mirror fixing his hair and accepting the teasing jibes of the girls with good grace, then another ten minutes deciding what to wear.

"You take longer than I do."Hermione exclaimed.

"Well, that may explain a few things." Draco muttered to himself. He still wasn't pleased with the girls, as they had kept him locked in the Veela room for a good three hours.

"You need a scarf or something." Pansy said.

"I don't need a scarf, the collar folds up." Draco replied.

"Gloves then. It's cold outside."

"It's always cold outside." Draco responded, folding a pair of grey leather gloves into his pocket.

"Draco, I'm curious. Because Veela are winter creatures you're meant to be more attuned to the cold seasons. Is that the case with you?" Hermione quizzed the blonde, who sighed before answering.

"I don't feel the cold as much as Pansy or Blaise, but I never really have, even before the curse. I can still get sick and such if I'm not careful."

"Uh huh, interesting."

Hermione then chatted to Pansy, turning to completely unrelated topics while Draco fetched a few things to take with him to the match.

"Who sleeps where?" Hermione asked Pansy with a mischievous light in her eye.

"Well, Theo sleeps on this bed." She said, pointing to the one she sat on. Pointing to the bed one over to the right, she said. "And this one's Blaise's bed. And that's Draco's, over there at the end. Furthest from the door. Now that was a strategic coincidence."

Pointing to the two remaining beds by the door, she finished. "And those beds belong to Greg and Vince. In that order."

"Was there a particular reason for that order?"

"I suppose it goes in order of who can keep their hands to themselves." Pansy commented wryly.

"Alright, are we ready?" Draco said, standing in front of the girls with his winter coat and gloves on, a blue leather bag slung from his shoulders.

"Ready for what?" Pansy replied brightly.

"Quidditch is still on. If we hurry we can make it and see the end of the game."

"What? You're actually serious about going to the Quidditch?" Pansy stared at Draco, her mouth hanging open.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He said with a surly pout.

"Draco, you were drugged by those Ravenclaws this morning." Hermione said in shock.

Draco gave the bushy haired girl a look that equivocally said "So?"

"As in, just this morning they tried to hurt you." Hermione emphasised with deliberate slowness.

"What of it?" Draco shrugged.

"You're not seriously over it already? You were in a right state for hours because of their daft experiment." Hermione frowned.

The Ravenclaw boys were part of the disbanded experimental spells club, and decided there was a significant loophole in the ban, giving them room to expand into an experimental potions club. The 'prize' for a successful potion was to be Draco, as decided by the club leader, and so their nefarious plotting started.

"I'm aware of that." Draco sneered in reply.

"Well how would going to a Quidditch match, a Ravenclaw Quidditch match, give you any measure of security at all? You just lost them 100 house points, the crowd alone would provide a significant obstacle."

Pansy patted Hermione on the back and sighed. "Hermione, let it go. He's not going to listen to us now. He's rather excellent at compartmentalizing. This morning's old news to him now."

"Ah Pansy, you know me so well." Draco smirked and held his hand out for her to take it.

"But – that's – infuriating!" Hermione spluttered.

"I know it is. I try to get him angrier about these things, but he just brushes them off." Pansy got off the bed and paced over to Draco's wardrobe. Picking up a rather fetching pastel blue scarf, she held it up. "Can I wear this to the match?" She asked Draco.

"Keep it." He said. "Shall we go then Granger?"

"Why aren't you angrier? Don't you want revenge?" She scowled up at the blonde Slytherin, her arms crossed.

"Always." He replied, holding his hand out for Hermione too. "But cold rage can be twice as effective as rash vengeance could ever be."

Hermione considered this, and inclined her head to his way of thinking, before accepting his hand and sliding off the bed. Rubbing her hands against her wool knit cardigan, she made to the door.

"Aren't you cold Granger?" Pansy asked.

"I'll be fine." Hermione replied.

Pansy ignored this and retreated back into Draco's wardrobe, coming back with a pair of fine woollen gloves and a white cashmere scarf.

"Here. Wouldn't want to drag you to your icy death." She grinned.

"Oh, I couldn't." Hermione protested, looking down at the fine garments. They were manufactured by wizards, the magic in their stitch work obvious. They looked extremely expensive. "It's too much."

"Draco doesn't mind." Pansy insisted.

Draco stood with his hand on the door handle, his expression blank for a moment, before he inclined his head.

"Have them." Hermione took the garments, feeling awed by Draco's generosity before he spoiled the illusion. "The gloves are ugly, and I can't wear white scarves anymore. They look ridiculous on me. Don't give them back, I don't want them anymore."

Hermione's doubts about taking the clothes were extinguished and she put the gloves and scarf on without a second thought.

The three students then walked together to the pitch, the cheer of the crowd signalling the violent nature of the game that extended its duration.

"Another reason for you Granger." Draco said with a sly grin. "No Ravenclaw will attempt to so much as breathe on me now, because Blaise is making an example of Ravenclaw's Quidditch team."

The sickening crunch as a well aimed bludger sent a Ravenclaw chaser crashing into the stands echoed throughout the stadium.

"Oh god. That's cold revenge is it?" Hermione shuddered, leading the Slytherins to the picnic destination.

"What's colder than designating your revenge to those better equipped. Someone else wears the bloodied hands, and you get on with your life." Draco shrugged.

"But if you wanted a more Gryffindor term for it." Pansy interjected. "You could call it loyalty, or fwendship." She cooed. "Between the death threats and the dirty talk I don't think I heard any 'avenge me' sound out to Blaise. This little one hear wants you to think he's had his revenge, but he's really just a cute Veela sweetie." She batted her lashes, clinging onto Draco's arm.

"Veela sweetie?" He rolled his eyes, and shoved Pansy lightly.

"You are to me." Pansy poked her tongue out.

"I shall have to change that, if you're to continue associating with me."

"It's alright. Surprise, surprise, Draco Malfoy is actually a gentleman. I see." Hermione grinned and gave Draco a patronising look.

"You don't." Draco snapped. "Don't presume things. Revenge today would be a waste of time. I came to enjoy the match, didn't I?"

"Of course you did. Oh, left here." Hermione directed the Slytherins to a gap in the fabric of one of the pitch's wooden columns. Pulling back the material, Hermione revealed a series of platforms and ladders ascending to the top of the column.

"Ohh, this is sneaky." Pansy grinned gleefully, skipping through the fabric's curtain.

"We found it last year. You can use a spell that turns the fabric see-through, like a two way mirror. It's like watching the match indoors." Hermione grinned.

Draco looked sceptically at the many ladders, and hoisted his leather bag up on his shoulders. "How far up is it?"

"A fair way." Hermione climbed briskly up the ladder. "You'll see it when we get there."

Pansy followed Hermione up the ladder, and Draco climbed behind them with trepidation in his step. He was hesitant about seeing Harry again, considering how embarrassing he had been earlier when he was under the influence of the lust potion.

He remembered it quite vividly actually, how he had forced himself on his mate, how he had marked him on his neck. Draco smirked to himself as he climbed the ladder, wondering how Harry would have explained that to his friends. He might have told them the truth, a thought that worried Draco and would leave him vulnerable to their humour.

He decided that the only way to smooth things over would be to take it all in his stride. Roll with it and to make it seem like a victory for him rather than the humiliating defeat it really was.

The main thing Draco remembered, among all the other ridiculous things he had done today, was how upset Harry looked when Draco offered his submission to his mate. It was a stupid thing for him to have done really, Draco had to keep reminding himself that it was the lust potion's fault and not his, but the fact that Harry rejected him still stung him.

He didn't understand when Harry refused his kiss. Didn't he want to? Who didn't want to? He was Draco Malfoy, the hottest thing in Hogwarts since the fire that burned the south wing in the 1700's. Who did that Gryffindor think he was? Harry Potter, was the obvious answer, and the one that angered Draco the most. If it was a battle of the wills, Draco was determined to be the victor.

This was how Draco decided he would make Harry Potter fall for him. It was a conscious decision of Draco's, and it was an endeavour he would win. Potter would fall to kiss Draco's feet when he was through with him.

This had nothing to do with the fact that Potter was terribly sexy, and his innocent green eyes tended to get Draco very hot and bothered. No, not at all. But Draco Malfoy gets what Draco Malfoy wants. Not that Draco wanted Potter or anything. He just wanted Potter to want him. There was nothing more tempting that forbidden fruit. It's not like he was in love with Potter, right? Draco decided not to dwell on that little question.

He would make Potter fall for him. It was as simple as that. If he could do what even the Dark Lord couldn't accomplish, make The Boy Who Lived fall, it seemed to justify itself.

If he had to coerce his mate, well, he had several bottles of coercion in his bag, Draco thought with a smile, although he should be coercion enough.

On the platform above, Hermione poked her bushy head through the gap by the ladder with a pleased smile on her face. It was warm and cosy in the platform room, and the rugs, blankets and miniature fires created a welcoming atmosphere to the secret den.

Even more welcoming was the passionate snog Hermione received upon reaching the top of the ladder.

"'Mione!"

"Wooo, go Ron!"

"Oh, get a room!"

"Yeah man."

"That's love. That's love right there."

The chorus of bleary voices told Hermione just how 'merry' her friends could get at a three hour long Quidditch match. Enjoying the affection, Hermione kissed her boyfriend passionately back, realising just how nice it was to have Ron.

"Mmm. Where's my hello?" Pansy reached the top of the ladder to see Hermione's kiss in front of the room full of Gryffindors. She was met with some startled staring at first. After a few seconds she was pulled up the ladder by a smiling Dean Thomas, who gave her a warm hug.

"I'm hugging Pansy Parkinson." He laughed, as if astonished with himself. The rest of the Gryffindors chortled, and Pansy could smell the heated flavour of Firewhiskey on the boy's breath.

"What is this? Hug a Slytherin day?" Pansy drawled, running her hand through Dean's fringe. "Not that I don't appreciate it." She flashed a coy grin at the Gryffindor boys.

Draco's blonde head reached the top of the ladder, and he smirked casually at the room assembled. "I can't take you anywhere, can I?"

"Draco!" Harry was sitting in front of the transparent fabric, watching the game with a bottle of butterbeer in his hand, and turned abruptly when he heard his mate's voice. "What are you doing here?"

Draco climbed onto the platform and straightened his clothes out. "You invited me here, if you'll recall. Am I not welcome?"

"He's welcome. Tell 'im he's welcome Harry." Seamus said, nodding furiously.

"You're Draco Malfoy." An airy voice declared.

Draco looked to see Luna Lovegood reclining on a rug near the fabric window, a yellow boa constrictor curled around her neck. She was staring at him as if he was a rather fascinating piece of art. Draco decided he'd rather sit with the strange girl with the snake instead of the eager Irish boy who beckoned him.

"You're stating the obvious." Draco sat beside her, leaning up against the slanted wall of the column.

"No, I'm Luna." She replied rolling over to look at him better. "You fainted this morning."

"Again, stating the obvious." Draco rummaged through his bag and pulled out several decorative bottles.

"Are you sure you're ok Draco?" Harry asked, worried. "Are you, you know, not –"

"Stay away from Hermione right?" Ron turned away from his snogging session with his girlfriend to warn the Veela boy in the corner.

Draco blinked, then smiled. "I regret the lapse as much as you do."

"Hey –"Ron frowned, then got defensive when he recognised the hidden insult.

"Oh, don't fuss Ron, it's alright." Hermione comforted her beau. Patting his arm, she fiddled with the bottles on the floor. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Oh, the Drink-Auror's out now Weasley." Pansy grinned, settling down on one of the thick red blankets strewn about the room, accepting her second shot of Firewhiskey from Dean. She had a talent for working fast.

"Just a bit. I saved some for you." Ron replied sheepishly, pulling Hermione onto his lap in a casual embrace.

"Seriously Draco, are you sure you're alright. I mean, after this morning, and with the room?" Harry worried in a garbled fashion.

"I'm still mad at you about that." Draco said quickly, cutting Harry off before he could say something compromising.

"Ah, since Harry's in the doghouse ..." Seamus laughed and trailed off suggestively.

"No chance Finnegan." Draco sneered, and flicked his wand at one of the bottles in front of him, causing it to smoke from the spout.

"Ah, I'm sorry for that." Harry apologised sincerely. "I really am. It was for your own good though."

"Yes, yes." Draco waved his hand impatiently, and poured some of the steaming brew from one bottle to another. "I don't blame you; I blame the idiotic Ravenclaws, who have been dealt with."

Luna rolled onto her back and placed her head in Draco's lap. "Your friend Blaise talks about you." She said.

Draco made no move to brush her off, instead focused on preparing his drink. "So do lots of people." He said, unfazed.

"What are you making?" Ginny Weasley asked Draco from the opposite side of the platform.

Draco looked up with a smile, although he wasn't particularly pleased at how close the ginger girl sat to his mate, he let it slide. A little liquid confidence and his master plan could begin.

"Just a little drink to catch up with you lot. I've only got enough for a few people, so not everyone can have some."

"What is it?" Ginny repeated.

"It smells like petrol and apple juice." Luna commented cheerily.

"Oh, you didn't bring that apple tea did you Draco? Oh no, that stuff's ruthless." Pansy exclaimed with appreciative eyes.

"Apple tea?" Harry asked with a knowing look in his eyes. He couldn't help the crooked grin that spread across his face. Of course Draco would have an apple flavoured tea.

Draco looked up and was temporarily waylaid by Harry's grin. "It's a Turkish specialty. Special tea." He added with a lazy grin, already affected by the fumes of the tea.

"I had some at his Christmas party last year." Pansy said eagerly, explaining to the Gryffindors the hype regarding the tea. "It's got to be the single most alcoholic substance in the entirety of the wizarding world. Just a sniff, and you're already tipsy. One sip and you're drunk. A cupful, and you're gone."

"Mad! Can I have some?" Dean's eyes lit up.

"I'm sure you'll all reap the benefits." Draco smirked, his gaze flickering to Harry. "You pass it around and everyone has to inhale and once you're sure you can handle it, then you take a sip."

"I'm game." Dean said cheerily.

"Ohh, you're adventurous." Pansy giggled.

"Yep. Adventurous is my middle name." Dean grinned.

"That's cruel of your parents." Pansy laughed. "Although you should hear some of the names in Slytherin."

"Draco Malfoy for one." Ron teased the blonde, their rivalry not yet dead.

"Oh, like you can talk Ronald Bilius Weasel!" Draco sneered with the same old enthusiasm he had for humiliating Weasleys. This brought splutters of hidden amusement from the assembled Gryffindor's and Luna's dreamy smile intensified.

"How'd you know my middle name, ferret?" Ron scowled.

"I know your family tree, idiot." Draco grinned in response.

"You got nothing better to do?" Ginny said defensively.

Draco imperiously inhaled the smoke from the tea once again, and laughed absently. "Isn't it obvious, Ginervra?"

Ginny blushed the Weasley red. It seemed both Weasley children were somewhat ashamed of their odd names.

"Oh, cheer up." Draco scoffed, and passed the bottle of apple tea to the blushing red-head. "Would you like some apple tea? Look at me, making a peace offering to a Weasley!"

"Maybe you are still sick Draco." Pansy called out to him, cuddling up to Dean Thomas after her fifth shot of Firewhiskey.

"Maybe I hit my head climbing that stupid ladder." He laughed.

"This is odd." Neville said, coughing as he swallowed a sip of the whiskey. "Laughing with Draco Malfoy, all casual like."

"All men are equals when utterly sloshed." Draco said dismissively, as if it was an old adage in the wizarding world. Neville seemed to get it, for he gave a tiny salute with two fingers, as did Ron and Ginny.

"How much of this is going over your head?" Hermione asked Dean.

"All of it." Dean laughed. "I get what they're saying though."

Ginny accepted the tea, holding it far away from her, as if dubious if she should trust a peace offering from a Malfoy. Harry finished his butterbeer and it landed on the floor, rolling to join the other bottles in the centre of the room.

"Should you really be getting 'sloshed', Draco? I mean, look what happened last time." He said, moving closer to the corner where his mate sat.

"I've had a shit day Potter. I think I deserve to be legless for a bit." Draco leaned back, reclining against the wood panel that served as a wall. Luna's head was still in his lap, and she was holding the large python to her face, poking her tongue out at it.

"I know, but what about your potion? Don't you want to remember it this time?" Harry joined Draco, sitting next to him with his back to the wood.

"Every potion in my system vacated about half an hour ago. In that stupid room you locked me in, so I doubt it's an issue now." Draco said flippantly, feeling the double high of the tea and his mate's proximity.

Ginny took a whiff of the tea across the room and put it down abruptly. "Whoa. That's –"she blinked, her eyes startled, then dreamy as a wide grin split her face.

"Pass it here." Dean called out.

"Insane." Ginny murmured.

"Look." Harry said, continuing his conversation with Draco. "I am sorry about that, but you weren't in your right mind. You were nuts on that lust potion, and putting you in that room was the only way you could be, well, you again."

"I was in that awful room for three hours Potter. Three hours. So you'll have to make that up to me somehow, because your 'sorry' just doesn't cut it." Draco hissed angrily. Seduction plan or not, he was still angry.

"I am sorry." Harry repeated morosely. "You have no idea how hard it was to leave you there."

Draco's face softened. He looked to Harry curiously.

"But I couldn't let you get hurt. What if someone found you like that? I had to be sure you'd be safe." Harry continued.

Draco pouted. Not love-struck concern then. Just a misplaced sense of responsibility. "Why didn't you stay with me? It was the least you could do, considering it's your fault in the first place."

Harry wore a pained expression when Draco said it was his fault. Across the room the tea fumes had been passed around, and Dean took the tentative first sip.

"Woooo! Hell yeah!" He cheered upon tasting the liquid. Pansy burst into contagious giggles, infecting the rest of the room.

"You really think it's my fault?" Harry frowned.

Draco considered it for a minute, and, tipsy from the fumes, he reached out and pressed his gloved finger to the hickey on Harry's neck. Harry shuddered, then relaxed slowly.

"How did you explain these to your friends?" He puzzled, changing track.

"I told them you mauled me under the influence of a lust potion." He replied with a half grin. "Not really. I said they were marks left by a hex from yesterday."

"Someone hexed you yesterday?" Draco seemed surprised.

"The hexing was mutual." Harry laughed. "Ernie was being a tosser and badmouthing you in front of me again. It was deliberate. I think he just wanted a reaction from me so he could dock house points."

"Why do you do that?" Draco mused absently, sifting for something he could work with, like an irrational jealousy problem, or a secret kink for rescuing people.

"Do what?" Harry asked, shifting closer to Draco after he removed his hand from Harry's neck.

"Stand up for me like that? It's not like they insult you. Why should it matter to you what people think of me?" Draco asked slyly.

"I don't need a reason." Harry replied, miffed. "I just do."

"Well, you never used to." The blonde replied grumpily.

"I didn't have a reason to before." Harry said softly.

"Well, what's your reason now?" Draco asked, looking up at Potter through his lashes. Blaise always told him that was his sexy-face.

Harry blinked, aware that he was close to revealing how he felt about the blonde boy beside him, and he was not nearly drunk enough to do that.

Harry imagined telling Draco he loved him on a bed of roses, or in the forest, under the glow of the fireflies and fairies, or back on the bed of roses.

Actually, the bed of roses was his main fantasy location for his dramatic declaration of love.

The fact that getting Draco to listen to him on said bed of roses was near impossible only helped delay Harry's inevitable humiliation when the blonde turned him down.

Hastily, Harry changed the subject. "Well, what about you? Do you defend me when your friends talk about me?"

Draco blanched, then sniffed haughtily, determined to keep his Malfoy pride intact. Harry should be falling for him, not the other way around. "And why would I do that?"

From Draco's lap, Luna then chose to interject.

"Blaise told me you had a row about Harry just yesterday." She revealed in her airy voice.

Draco stiffened with panic at being caught out.

"Is that so?" Harry said with an amused smile, taking in the blonde's sheepish reaction.

"Yes. You argued about seeing Harry more often, and that Blaise shouldn't hate him so much, and then he got angry because you can be rather loud when you dream of him." She smiled vaguely at Draco, who was glaring at her with murder in his eyes.

Harry suddenly started laughing. Laughing rather loudly, drawing the attention of the tea-drinkers in the room.

"What's so funny Harry?" Seamus asked.

"Are you laughing at Draco?" Pansy asked, swinging a teacup between her fingers. Hermione had conjured up teacups for everyone in the room, and used a spell to double the amount of apple tea.

"No, he's not." Draco scowled.

"I bet he is." Ron whispered to Hermione.

"He's not." Draco protested.

"He is!" Pansy squealed.

"Oh, look out the window. Is that a unicorn?" Draco pointed dramatically, employing diversion tactics.

Pansy rushed to the window part of the fabric, and was followed by Neville, Ginny, Hermione and Seamus.

Harry nudged Draco and laughed. "Is that a unicorn? You're priceless, you know that?"

"Yes, I'm told I'm worth a good many galleons." Draco sneered at Harry, enjoying the compliment, but still miffed at being laughed at so.

"It's not a unicorn. You're silly Draco. It's Chang-bang." Pansy giggled, the effect of the tea evident in her behaviour.

Draco looked alert then. "Chang?" Forgetting his previous activity of charming Potter he crawled across the bottle strewn floor, picking up an empty one as he went. "Good. Let's throw things at her."

"What?" Harry frowned. Luna had rolled across the floor when Draco had moved, and now sat next to Neville, lifting up his cup of tea and taking a hefty sip.

"Nargles throw things, but not very often." She sang.

"Ha ha, you mean like throwing scissors like at breakfast?" Pansy giggled.

"What do you mean, throw scissors at Cho?" Seamus scornfully exclaimed. "She's bloody gorgeous. Dead sexy."

"No she's not. She's incredibly ugly. Are you blind Finnegan?" Draco scoffed. Seeing Cho he was aware of what he was up against. For all he knew, Harry was straight. His mission was doomed. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly depressed.

Harry warily eyed the empty bottle in Draco's hand.

"You might want to put that down." Harry said soothingly.

"Oh, oh Harry. I know what this is. I read about it." Hermione giggled, clinging to Ron's neck. "He's a Veela."

Both Harry and Draco turned to stare at Hermione at that. She seemed very pleased with herself.

"So?" Harry questioned.

"So. He's jealous. Jealous Veela." She explained.

"I'm not jealous!" Draco protested.

"Then why do you want to throw things at Cho?" Hermione asked smugly.

"Because I'm too drunk to hex her." Draco pouted.

"I'm drunk too. Ten bloody minutes with you snakes and I'm drunker than I've ever been." Ron grumbled sleepily.

"That's sad." Pansy commented.

"No, that's pretty reasonable." Neville shook his head.

"Why isn't anyone hitting her?" Draco sulked. "Flint's little brother's such a crap seeker."

"You're a seeker." Dean pointed out rather obviously.

"I am." Draco nodded.

"You and Harry are seekers." He clarified.

"That's right." Draco followed the conversation.

"Why aren't you playing today?"

"Because I'm not allowed on the team anymore." Draco wailed, reaching for Pansy's teacup.

"If you get drunk Draco, and everyone else is, who's going to get you back to your room safe?" Harry frowned, moving forward to stop Draco's arm, but he downed the tea quickly.

The blonde boy sighed, then licked his lips. "Whosoever wants to."

"What if we're all drunk? And no one could help you? What then?" Harry persisted.

"I don't know. Someone will. Pansy will. Granger will. Hell, if it gets that desperate, I can always ask a Ravenclaw. They get off on that shit anyway." Draco mumbled wearily, pouting into the cup.

"I'm a Ravenclaw." Luna wittered.

"Good for you." Draco said morosely.

"Draco." Harry sighed. Holding his arms out, offering comfort, he said softly. "Do you want to come here? Here, I'll look after you, you great git."

Draco crawled over to Harry and snuggled into his arms, his depressed pout intensifying. It seemed that this would be the closest he'd get to love from Harry Potter. The straight Harry Potter who apparently liked slaggy Asian girls riding his broom.

"I'm not a git." He sniffled, his lower lip jutting out. "I'm a Malfoy." By now the tea was in full effect and Draco was as smashed as Longbottom's remembrall.

"Oh, no. Prepare yourselves folks." Pansy declared. "He's been very hormonal lately. Be sure to scourgify your eyes when this is over."

"I'm rich. I'm pretty. I'm a Veela. I'm smart. I'm funny. I'm good at potions." He bemoaned. "Why don't you like me?"

"No, no, no. That's not it at all!" Harry panicked, aware that they were once again nearing the bed-of-roses topic.

"Yeah Harry." Seamus chimed in. "I like him. Why don't you?"

"I've always liked him." Pansy said accusingly.

"I like him too." Luna sang in her airy voice. "He is amusing."

"Even I'm starting to like him." Hermione muttered as if astonished with herself.

"Well, I don't." Ron growled possessively.

Ginny and Neville were both passed out at this point, and Dean was cuddling Pansy's leg and so didn't put in his two cents.

"I – It's not like that – I –"Harry protested, suddenly the focus of everyone's attention.

"Why didn't you kiss me back today?" Draco simpered. "Why did you push me away?"

"I – I didn't want to take advantage of you. I didn't want to hurt you." Harry insisted.

"Why?" Draco queried dejectedly. As if he expected people to want to hurt him.

"Because I didn't want to be like them. The people who hurt you. Who touch you without your permission." Harry growled protectively.

"But I gave you my permission." Draco whinged, cuddling into Harry's chest.

"I –" Harry thought back, was he referring to what he said when he was locked in the Veela room? "That didn't count. You weren't you."

"What if I'm never me?"Draco's confused garbled sentence shocked Harry. "Will you always ignore me?"

"I don't ignore you." Harry whispered, trying to control himself.

"You do. Even now, you aren't looking at me. Why?" Draco demanded.

It was true, Harry had been looking away. It was because every second he saw Draco looking at him with that pleading expression he wore in the Veela room made it harder for Harry to deny him anything.

It was so hard to resist him, even looking at him in general brought that lump to Harry's throat, making him want to claim the beauty in front of him as his own. He knew that wouldn't be right. Draco would never want that.

"I want to – when you're not drunk. I want to do this right." Harry said firmly.

Draco pressed his lips together in a line, and looked searchingly into Harry's face. Realising that he was searching for love because he actually wanted it, Draco fell into despair, rapidly giving up on his stupid-master-plan. He sighed, and buried his face in Harry's chest.

"Ugh. Fine. God this is embarrassing."

Thin tears ran from Pansy's eyes, smearing trails of eye makeup along her face. It seemed she had been crying when Draco pleaded with Harry.

"You'll forget it all tomorrow Draco. Don't be upset."

"I'm not upset. I'm humiliated." Draco moaned. Harry felt very awkward, and suddenly aware of how smoky the platform had grown. He must have inhaled a fair bit of that tea. He stiffly moved his arm and patted Draco on the back in an attempt to comfort him.

"It will all be hazy tomorrow, and you'll only remember the nightmares." Pansy wiped her eyes and pushed Dean off her leg. The Londoner-boy had fallen asleep.

"Nightmares?" Hermione queried.

"The tea gave everyone nightmares last time we drank it. We all dreamed horrible things. It was like our greatest fears and desires rolled into one." Pansy shuddered.

"And you drink this tea willingly?" Seamus exclaimed.

"You did, if I recall." Luna pointed out.

"The good thing is that the nightmares will be all that we remember since we first sipped the tea. We wake up knowing we had a bender, and knowing what we have to live for so we don't drink the tea again." Pansy shrugged and reclined on the thick blankets, drawing one around her and snuggling into the fabric.

"That's rather profound for a tea." Hermione commented.

"I'd imagine it stops people getting addicted to it." Luna mused. "That's why cheering charms leave a bitter aftertaste, and felix felicis makes you giddy and sickly after."

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to record what we dreamed about, so we can remember what, you know, 'we have to live for'." Hermione said with an empirical disbelief.

"Last time I talked about my dream with Draco. It sort of disappears once you tell someone." Pansy explained sleepily.

"Perhaps we should write it down then." Hermione said, blinking sleep out of her vision. "I have some ... paper, and quills ... in ... my bag." She yawned, and nuzzled closer to Ron.

"I'll tell you Hermione." Luna murmured, tugging her boa constrictor from the rafters and using it as a pillow. "In the morning."

"Is the game even finished yet?" Ron muttered, reclining with Hermione. "What's the time?"

"It's four o'clock." Seamus yawned. "Why am I so sleepy? I don't want to be sleeping."

One by one the students fell asleep in the warm enclosed room in the towering column of the Quidditch pitch.

"There goes Cho Chang." Seamus smiled, his last words before drifting off to sleep. "She's caught the snitch. What a hottie."

Hermione slept nestled into Ron. He slumbered swiftly, using his girlfriend's bushy hair as a pillow. Seamus, Dean and Pansy had passed out on various patches of the floor. Neville and Ginny remained unconscious by the wall where they dozed off earlier. Luna fell asleep on her boa constrictor, the poor animal wriggling, fading, then giving up and turning back into a curtain tassel.

In the corner of the room, by the wood panelled wall, Harry and Draco lay entwined together, watching the sky dim out the transparent window in the column. Harry had been stroking Draco's back contentedly since earlier, and presumed the blonde to be asleep. Taking in the state of the other students in the room, Harry thought he was the only one awake.

Staring at the silvery blonde head nestled into his chest, Harry sighed, and had a sentimental moment.

"I do like you." He whispered into Draco's hair. "I want to be with you. I just want to do this right. I want our first kiss to be memorable. I want to impress you, and amaze you in every way possible so you'll see that it's worth it."

Harry pressed a kiss to Draco's head and inhaled the sweet apple scent of his hair. He laughed quietly, and pressed another kiss to Draco's head.

"I wanted to tell you I love you on a bed of roses, if you'll believe that. I'm such an idiot. I wanted you to have a choice, and to choose me."

Harry sighed, and pressed his cheek to Draco's hair.

"But that's not going to happen."

"Why not?" The quiet timid question reverberated throughout the column.

Harry jumped, startled. "You're awake? You – you heard that?"

"Will you ask me? Again, when it's all over tomorrow?" Draco didn't look up, keeping his nose pressed to Harry's chest, inhaling his thick scent.

He felt full of a sappy Gryffindor warmth, not at all becoming of a Malfoy, but he couldn't really help it, after all the drunken despair he had suffered earlier was completely irrelevant. To be honest, he had forgotten about his master plan, somewhere between hugging Harry and inhaling more tea laden air.

"Ask -?"

"Because I won't remember this. You can do it your way. With the roses and the sappy Gryffindor morality."

"I – you really wouldn't mind?" Harry murmured into Draco's hair.

Draco yawned and strategically stretched, wrapping his arms around Harry's neck. "I tried to seduce you today, didn't I?"

"Are you saying you don't mind?" Harry grinned hopefully.

"You mind far more than me." Draco rolled his eyes. "I understand though. I mean, if I were with a Veela I'd be hesitant too."

"You would?" Harry asked disbelievingly.

Draco paused, then wrinkled his nose. "Probably not. I'd have shagged the poor thing and left in the morning."

"What makes you think I'm holding back then?"

Draco looked down to Harry's chest again, and replied. "It's just, you don't know how much is real, or what is just the magic. You don't want to lose yourself, or be associated with something so base."

Harry's heart swelled with emotion, as it seemed Draco was describing how he felt in terms that regarded Harry. A surge of pity and anger issued when Draco mumbled the last part.

"Base? Who thinks you're base? People like Dacribade? They don't know a thing Draco. You're worth a thousand of them."

"I could get used to this shameless flattery Harry. Are you sure you'll keep at it when you wake up?"

"As long as you don't laugh at me when I put my foot in my mouth." Harry said with a grin. His confession of love was going surprisingly well.

"Well, it's just that – I never dreamed – no well, I did dream. I never thought Harry Potter would have thought to be with someone like me." Draco blinked sleepily, slurring his words. He decided he didn't care what he said anymore. He was too drunk to care.

"Why wouldn't I?" Harry asked, astonished that Draco had been thinking the exact same things that he had been thinking for him.

"Well, I'm a Veela, I'm a Slytherin, I've hated you for a good five years or so, I'm mean to you, I'm mean to your friends, I'm practically an animal with great ugly wings, my family hates you and everything you stand for, and I'm a boy." Draco ticked the list off on his fingers in a flippant manner.

"You're not an animal, and your wings aren't ugly. I think they're beautiful." Harry murmured, splaying his hand against Draco's shoulder blades, feeling the wings underneath Draco's skin.

Draco blinked. "But didn't you hear me? What about the rest of it? It's a very long list."

"Doesn't matter." Harry pressed another kiss to Draco's hair.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? A lot of it matters!"

"Doesn't matter to me." Harry hummed, holding the blonde tighter.

"So what? It doesn't matter to you that I'm not some slutty bimbo with - you know - the ability to have your babies, with big breasts and a ridiculous ugly Changy face?" Draco rambled venomously.

"What?" Harry blinked.

"I'm not a girl." Draco said slowly. "Shouldn't Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world and all that malark be dating a girl? What will people think?"

Harry blinked again, then a wide smile spread across his face as he imagined how disappointed the many people who thought they 'knew Harry Potter' would be when he was happily dating Draco and none of that mattered anymore. With Draco it felt like nothing else mattered. He leaned in to whisper into Draco's neck.

"I don't care what people think."

"Then why have you been holding back?" Draco exclaimed.

Harry laughed. "I care about what you think, you stupid little tosser!"

"I think you took your bloody time." Draco grumbled.

"Seriously." Harry grinned, reasoning with the tired blonde. "What would you have thought if I started coming onto you the moment I first knew I loved you? You'd think I was crazy, or I was taking advantage, or that I was only doing it for the allure. You'd have never believed me."

"That depends. How long have you been hopelessly head-over-heels smitten with me?" Draco asked with a cheeky grin.

"Ha ha, will you believe since that first day in the hospital wing?" Harry said weakly.

Draco tensed in shock. He remembered that day as his first day as a Veela. It was quite traumatic, and he couldn't remember doing anything that would have caused Potter to love him, aside from throwing things and sweeping him almost out the room.

"You ... felt this way then?" Draco asked stiffly. It occurred to him that this whole love fiasco really was some misguided attraction to Draco's Veela instincts, and that realisation made Draco feel like Harry sent a disembowelling hex at him, tearing his insides out.

"Yeah. Ha, actually, from the moment you first woke up really."

Draco felt terribly maudlin. Harry only liked him for his pretty Veela face. It made him want to cry.

"I remember, you woke up, and the first thing you said made me laugh. Everything was so shitty at the time, and sure you were a git, but it looked like you wouldn't wake up." Harry muttered, feeling sheepish and embarrassed. "You were a part of my life even then. I didn't want you dead. When I went to visit you in the hospital I thought I never really knew you. You could have been an alright person, you know?"

"Where are you going with this?" Draco mumbled thickly into Harry's shirt.

"I mean when you woke up, you thought you were with your friends and you were actually very funny." Harry said earnestly. "If I recall, you said fuck in front of Dumbledore, swore you wouldn't wake up before eight, and told us all to go away."

"As if that made you like me." Draco scowled.

"That didn't, that just made me laugh when I hadn't laughed in days."Harry snickered to himself.

"Oh, that's rich. I made you laugh because I came out of a coma. You've got a sick sense of humour Potter." Draco frowned and tried to pull away from Harry, but his arms were leaden with sleep.

Harry pulled Draco tighter and seemed content to press more small kisses onto the blonde's forehead. After his kisses he lingered with his mouth just touching Draco's skin, his upper lip brushing softly against Draco's fringe.

"I never knew you. And then you woke up, and you were funny. You cried and you were vulnerable."

Draco snorted at that last mention. Malfoy's were never vulnerable. But he was very sleepy right now.

"You convinced me I should know you. That was very hard to do considering how you pushed me away since bloody day one." Harry grinned.

"No I didn't." Draco mumbled sleepily, then yawned.

"Mmmm?" Harry blinked, finding it harder to keep his eyes open than it had been before. It was close to five wasn't it? The match was over, wasn't it?

"I didn't push you away. I held out my hand, remember?" Draco said sleepily.

"What?" Harry puzzled, drifting on the edge of consciousness.

"I remember seeing you in the robe shop, and then I made you my friend, didn't I?" Draco mumbled and clutched onto Harry's shirt.

Harry's eyelids were getting heavier. He was lying down. He tried to say something, but it came out mumbling and incoherent.

"And we're friends now –"Draco yawned and closed his eyes. "Aren't we Harry?"

The swirling smoke sent echoes of Harry's name sinking with him into unconsciousness.

Harry's last thought was how good his name sounded on Draco's lips.