Draco and his fellow Slytherins sauntered into dinner twenty minutes later and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Despite them living in the same castle, Harry wasn't sure how to get a hold of Draco aside from in person. He wasn't sure if owls could reach the Slytherin common room after hours, they way they could in Gryffindor Tower. It was something he was going to have to ask about. Instead, he begged piece of parchment off of Hermione, who was surprised to know that he had figured out she always had parchment paper and quill on her, and scribbled a quick note to Draco. He spelled it across the Great Hall and then watched as Draco read it.
Can we talk? it read. Draco looked up briefly at him before turning to Blaise who, like Hermione, apparently carried a quill with him.
Perhaps. What's in it for me? Harry sighed.
An apology. In fact, here's one: I'm sorry. I owe you an explanation.
Potions room after dinner? Harry did not bother to send a response, but instead waited until he caught Draco's eye and nodded.
"You know," Neville said. "You could be a bit more subtle, Harry."
"Neville's right," Seamus chimed in. "If anyone had been paying attention to the pair of you, they would know something was going on."
"They would probably just think we were friends," Harry protested.
"Sure they would," Neville agreed, unconvincingly. Harry sighed and rested his head on his hands. He was still too tipsy to care about what other people were thinking about him.
Dinner seemed to drag by, particularly as Harry had already finished eating by the time Draco had walked in, but eventually he saw the blonde stand up. He watched as Draco left the Great Hall and then slowly followed him.
He ran through what he wanted to say as he made his way down the stairs, losing sight of Draco as a group of what seemed to be second years ran past him.
Draco was waiting for him in the dungeon corridor, seemingly oblivious to the other students as he fell in step with Harry on their way to their room. Harry had a fleeting thought that people were going to talk about them, but he banished it from his mind. Let them talk.
Once they reached their room, and Sir Cadogen had called them cowards for not fighting him, Draco propelled Harry over to the sofa and made him sit. He perched next to him, but did not say anything, instead waiting until Harry was ready to talk. Harry was rather taken aback. He had not expected Draco to be so understanding, particularly as the other man had seemed genuinely hurt when he had left him earlier.
Once he had gathered his thoughts, he began to talk about Sirius and why the comment about his rushing headlong into things had stung so much. And then once he had started talking, everything seemed to come out as complete word vomit. He was conscious of the fact that he was rambling, but as his thoughts were anything but coherent, he could hardly be expected to put them into any sort of order out loud.
As he continued to bare his soul, he realized that tears were slowly trickling down his face. He put his hands up to his cheeks, horrified at how his body was betraying him, but Draco didn't seem to notice. The blond was gnawing on his lower lip in obvious concern, but his eyes seemed miles away. Once he had reached the end of his latest sentence, Harry stopped talking and stared at Draco.
"Are you okay?" he eventually asked.
"I need to tell you something too," Draco said. The words came out in a rush. Harry nodded.
"Ok," he said.
"You're not going to like it."
"I just cried all over you about my dead godfather." His face was still rather wet with tears.
"Yes, well, it's somewhat related to that," Draco said. He wasn't looking at Harry, but rather was looking down at his hands which were twisting in his lap.
"Go on," Harry said. He reached up with one hand and attempted to wipe the remnants of the tears off of his face. His sleeve came away sodden.
"Well, as you know, my father was captured that night." Harry nodded. He had been pleased that at least someone had gone to jail for what had happened to Sirius, even if Bellatrix had gotten away. Draco paused here, seemingly unable to keep speaking. He was wringing his hands more violently in his lap, so Harry reached out and took one of them. Draco snatched it back.
"You're not going to want to be nice to me when you hear the next part," he said. His voice was bitter. "In fact, you probably won't even want to be near me." Harry frowned.
"Draco," he said softly. "It's ok. I won't be angry."
"You were the last time I tried to bring the topic up."
"Well, try me anyway," Harry said. "I will do my level best to stay calm." It was the best he could promise. He was, after all, known for being rather hot headed, as Draco himself had pointed out.
"So, the night after my father was sent to Azkaban, he came over." Harry cocked his head to the side. "You know, him." Harry continued to frown. Draco sighed. "You know. About five ten, pale skin, no nose, a bit of a jerk."
"Ah," Harry said. "Him."
"Yes. Well, anyway, he came over-" But at that point, Harry interrupted him.
"-Sorry. Just one point of clarification. A bit of a jerk?" Draco rolled his eyes.
"Fine, huge fucking arsehole. Better?"
"Yes. Carry on."
"Where was I? Right. He came over and he was, shall we say, less than pleased. And he wasn't alone. Some of the Death Eaters were with him, and they dragged me out of my room and made me come to their meeting while he took out all of his anger on my mother." Draco seemed to grow small as he talked, his shoulders hunching in on themselves. Harry reflexively took one of his hands again and this time Draco didn't pull away.
"Do you remember in fourth year when Mad Eyed Moody showed us the unforgivable curses on those spiders? Wait, did he show the goody two shoes Gryffindors?" Draco asked.
"He did," Harry said. "And anyway, I've seen them in action."
"Oh shit."
"Yes, woe is me. My life is tragic. We've just gone over that. We're talking about you now."
"Well, I had never seen, um, the cruciatus curse done on a person before." Again, Draco's eyes took on a far away look. Harry squeezed his hand.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "That must have been awful."
"It was almost worse than when they did it on me." Draco's voice cracked and Harry looked up to see a single tear make its way down Draco's cheek.
"I'm so sorry," Harry said again. He reached up with his free hand to wipe away the tear, but Draco batted his hand away, his face hardening.
"Well, long story short, I'm a coward and I begged them to stop, saying I would do anything if they left her alone. Which brings us to where we are now."
"You were coerced into getting me to date you?" Harry asked. If so, it would be a very different tact for Voldemort.
"No, you idiot," Draco snapped. "It's more complicated than that."
"You were coerced into getting me to fall in love with you, so I would let down my defenses and then you could lure me out of the castle and they could kill me?"
"You're nothing to do with what they asked me to do."
"Oh." Harry was relieved. He didn't want to think that their fledgling relationship had been built on a lie.
"No, it's worse than that." Harry's eyes narrowed in concern. "I have to kill Dumbledore."
…
"I'm bored," Pansy said, flopping down onto one of the common room couches. After a moment's pause, she kicked off her shoes and propped her feet up on the coffee table.
"How are you bored?" Blaise asked. He sat down next to her. "We only just got back from dinner."
"There's nothing to do," she whined. "Draco's gone off with Potter, and I'm stuck with just you for company."
"You wound me."
"Oh come off it, Blaise. I don't mean it that way."
"I remain unconvinced." She sighed and sat up, taking her feet off the table and stuffing them back into her shoes.
"I just mean, we had a fun afternoon, and now it feels like there's nothing left to do tonight except wait for bedtime."
"You don't mean that."
"Yes, I do." She crossed her arms across her chest and pouted at him. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Are you that sexually frustrated?"
"I beg your pardon?" Pansy sat up straighter and glared at Blaise
"Figured I would ask the blunt question," he said.
"No, Blaise. No, I am not." He shrugged.
"If you say so."
"You are not talking me into sleeping with you again," she said. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and then proceeded to study her nails with detached interest.
"Eh, it was worth a shot." Now it was Blaise's turn to prop his feet up on the table. He leaned back and rested his hands behind his head.
"Was it? I get the feeling you would rather be with Granger right now."
"What? No." Blaise sat up quickly, no longer nonchalant. Pansy laughed.
"Methinks you doth protest too much," she said.
"I literally protested once."
"So you wouldn't rather fuck her than me?" Pansy asked with a smirk. A flash of irritation crossed Blaise's face.
"Now who's trying to get who to sleep with who?" he asked.
"Oh, fuck you," Pansy snapped.
"I wish you would." Pansy rolled her eyes and Blaise grinned at her.
"You're still drunk," she said dismissively.
"So are you," he pointed out. She sighed and shook her head.
"I feel like this is going to end poorly. Again."
"By poorly, you mean, we won't talk to each other for about two days and then everything will go back to normal?" She ground her teeth in frustration. What irritated her most was that Blaise was making sense. She was feeling rather frustrated and they had slept together before and managed to maintain their friendship. He was clearly willing to do it again and, if she were honest with herself, she had enjoyed their last tumble in the sheets. She came to a decision.
"When you put it that way," she said. She reached over and put a hand on his thigh. "I quite enjoyed those two days when I didn't have to speak to you." His mouth fell open in surprise and she laughed.
"Uh," was all that he managed to say. She leaned in and whispered in his ear,
"Meet me in the Room of Requirement." He nodded dumbly. He watched as she rose from the sofa and walked, swishing her hips ever so slightly, to the door, never looking back to see if he would follow. Which, of course, he did.
…
Harry sat in silence for a long moment while his brain processed Draco's words. On the one hand, he was relieved that Draco hadn't been tasked with doing anything to Harry. But on the other hand, if something happened to Dumbledore, the only man Voldemort had supposedly ever been afraid of, what would happen to the wizarding world? He started to wonder how far Draco had gotten with this task, but was distracted when the blond spoke again.
"Oh, and to create a secret path into the castle for the Death Eaters."
"What's that?" Harry asked. He was suddenly very aware of the fact that he had shown Draco a secret way into Hogwarts.
"That's my other task. To get a group of Death Eaters into Hogwarts without anyone noticing."
"And I've just shown you how," Harry said quietly. He put his head in his hands. Draco pulled one of his hands away and held it. Harry looked up at him.
"I'm not going to use the Honeydukes tunnel," Draco said.
"Why not?"
"I'm not overly excited about having them run rampant around the school. Have you met them?" Harry nodded once. "They're fucking terrifying. I've been trying to think of a way of stalling them. And I have one.
"I've been trying to get this pair of twinned cabinets to work, but it's fiendishly difficult, which has bought me some time. They don't know there are any other ways in, and I'm going to keep it that way. And I've already told my mother I'm staying here over Christmas, so that I won't get harassed by any of them over the break." He paused here and took a long, shaky breath. "I don't want to do any of these things they're making me do."
"So you're saying you don't want to be a Death Eater?" Harry asked.
"Merlin, Harry, have you been listening to a thing I've said? Of course I don't." Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
"I can't pretend that I hadn't been worried."
"You're an idiot, you know that? You are aware that we're dating, yes? Which is a bit of a conflict of interest with the Death Eaters. They want you dead, whereas I want you in my bed. It's a little different."
"Even though they rhyme," Harry said. Draco rolled his eyes. "And you would say we're dating?"
"You asked me out, and I said yes. I think that constitutes as dating." A feeling of warmth blossomed in Harry's chest. He smiled at Draco, suddenly shy.
"Oh good," he said quietly. Now that he was sure of that, they could worry about Draco's Death Eater instructions later.
"You know," Draco said, leaning back into the couch cushions. "Our friends probably think we're fucking right now."
"I beg your pardon," Harry said. He sat up straight in his nervousness. Sure, they had messed around in the basement of Honeydukes, but their clothes had mostly stayed on.
"We both left the Great Hall around the same time and came here. Pansy and Blaise, for sure, think we're having sex right now," Draco said. Harry laughed nervously.
"Is that your way of saying we should?" Harry's mouth was dry. This was uncharted territory for him. Hand jobs were one thing. It wasn't that different from jerking off himself.
But the more he thought about it, the more his hormones took over, until he was quite convinced that all he wanted to do was rip all of Draco's clothes off. Right. Now.
"I am up for whatever you want, Potter."
"Should we, perhaps, move somewhere else then?" No matter how many times Snape told them he didn't monitor their comings and goings in these rooms, Harry remained unconvinced.
"I can't exactly sneak you into the Slytherin Common room," Draco said.
"What about the Room of Requirement? It turns into whatever you're looking for, after all."
"I take back my earlier comment," Draco said.
"Huh?" Harry asked. He was genuinely confused.
"You're not an idiot. You're a genius." He shot up from the couch and pulled Harry up behind him.
"Excited, are we?" Harry asked. Draco stopped tugging him towards the door.
"Aren't you?" His shoulders drooped.
"Not what I was saying. I was just teasing you." Draco's mouth curled in bemusement, but he continued to drag Harry to the door. Harry tugged his hand free. "I'll meet you up there,."
"Right," Draco said. "Appearances." And then he disappeared out of the door.
"Stand and fight, you scurvy cur!" Sir Cadogen yelled after him. Harry rolled his eyes and followed.
"You there! Fight me. I dare you, you lily livered toad scum!" Harry ignored the tiny knight and made his way up to the Room of Requirement.
He had a nervous knot of energy at the pit of his stomach, that somersaulted and jumped around as he walked. This was it. They were going to be naked. Properly naked. In a bed. Together. Running their hands over each other. He shivered as he imagined Draco running his hands down his torso.
He sped up his pace. Draco had clearly wasted no time in getting there as he had disappeared from Harry's view by the time Harry made his way out of the dungeons. He hoped no one had observed that. But there were very few people in the corridors, so Harry wasn't overly worried.
Draco was waiting for him as he turned the corner to the correct hallway. The blond smirked as he walked closer.
"Took your time, didn't you?" he said. Harry shrugged.
"I wanted to keep you in suspense," he said, even though he had intended no such thing and had merely walked at a normal, if slightly fast, pace. He took a step towards Draco, and then leaned in and kissed him. Draco melted into the kiss for a moment before he pulled away.
"No more anticipation," he said, taking Harry's hand. Harry grinned as Draco turned the doorknob and they burst into the room.
They were met with a scream, or more precisely a shriek. They sprang guiltily apart and looked around. The room was smaller than Harry had ever seen it, not much larger than their potions room, with just a bed for furniture. Only the bed was occupied by two people who had clearly had the same idea as them. The room was dark, so Harry peered at the bed, illuminated only by the light streaming through the open door.
He blinked in surprise when he saw it was Pansy and Blaise.
"Well, that's unexpected," he said.
Hope you enjoyed! R&R if you please.