"Gee, Malfoy, I thought the point of "Snitch" was to catch the snitch, not scare it away," Harry teased, triumphantly circling Draco on his borrowed broom, the snitch held aloft triumphantly.
Draco gave a snort, rolling his eyes but smiling despite himself. There was something about their weekly Saturday morning Snitch games that brought out a shadow of the old rivalry they'd once shared. These were the only times either ever really referred to the other by their surname anymore, or readily exchanged purposefully sharp words. However, it seemed to be a silent understanding that they both enjoyed these playful confrontations as much as they savored the early February chill stinging their faces or their brooms beneath them.
"Yeah right, Potter. The snitch probably just thinks it can make a nest in your hair; it does look rather like a mess of twigs and dirt, after all."
Draco swooped forward, taking advantage of Harry's surprise to grab the snitch right out of his hands and race off down the pitch with it.
"Hey!" Harry turned, racing after Draco, yelling at the retreating figure, "I thought you were going to play by the rules this time!"
Draco chanced a glance over his shoulder at his rapidly approaching boyfriend as he looped around a goal post and dove.
"Slytherin, Potter!"
Draco couldn't repress the manic grin spreading across his face as he swerved and dipped, Harry only a few meters behind and gaining by the second. He urged his broom forward, diving into an impressive wonskei feint when suddenly a too-familiar dot of orangey red in the stands caught his peripheral vision and he abruptly stopped in his tracks. Unable to pull out of his own dive in time, Harry slammed into Draco, sending them both hurtling from their brooms to land in a tangled pile in the snow a few feet below.
"Ugh…" Harry groaned, half-heartedly trying to disentangle himself, "God, Draco… what the bloody hell was that about? Trying to kill us both?" After a moment Harry gave up trying to stand up in favor of wrapping an arm around Draco's waist and pressing his forehead into the curve of the other boy's neck.
As soon as he recovered his breath and wits, though, Draco was pulling away, desperately looking around to see what had become of that dot of red.
"Draco? What's wrong?"
Draco's eyes were scanning hastily through the stands, but without any success.
"Harry! Draco! Impressive fall there. Bloody good thing for all this snow, I reckon."
A long shadow fell over them, and Draco very nearly jumped out of his skin. Conversely, Harry looked highly pleased, if not a little embarrassed at being caught in such a compromising position.
"Charlie! I didn't see you there. How are you?"
Getting clumsily to his feet, Harry did the unthinkable. He actually hugged Charlie Weasley. Draco saw red, in more ways than one.
"How've you been? I haven't seen you around for a few weeks."
"I've been just fine, Harry. Been a bit busy tending to some personal stuff, but I've got it all straightened out now," Charlie paused, looking over Harry's shoulder to where Draco was still sprawled in the snow, chest heaving and eyes slitted dangerously. "You alright down there, Draco? You're looking rather flushed." Charlie smirked wickedly down at him, but Harry missed the look entirely as he'd turned to look at Draco as well.
"I'm quite fine, thanks," Draco huffed, clambering to his feet in the shifting snow. "Harry and I were just leaving though, so I'm afraid we'll have to cut this reunion short. Good day, Weasley." And with that he grabbed Harry by the elbow, picked up their brooms and set off towards the castle.
"Draco! What is wrong with you? Let go!" Harry hissed, trying to pry the fingers around his arm loose only to have them tighten painfully. "Draco, stop, you're hurting me…" A quick glance over his shoulder showed Charlie still standing in the middle of the pitch, waving after them. They were almost out of sight behind the bleachers by then, and still Draco seemed deaf to Harry's indignant words.
"Malfoy, stop!" Harry's voice was hard and determined, anger assaulting Draco through their link and causing his fingers to loosen. Harry quickly made sure Charlie couldn't see them before dragging Draco beneath the bleachers.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? We bloody well were not going inside, and I was talking to Charlie! What is wrong with you?"
Draco looked blank.
"But… but Harry, it's Charlie! You don't understand, you can't talk to him, Harry. Don't go near him, ever, do you understand? You just... just can't!"
Green eyes narrowed, sending a chill down Draco's spine. The temperature beneath the bleachers seemed to suddenly plummet, an icy wind whipping up around them. Harry looked a little frightening.
"You think you can boss me around now, Malfoy? Think I'm you're property, do you? Just because we've shared a few kisses, that gives you the right to tell me whom I can and can't talk to now?"
The snow around their feet was beginning to stir in the growing wind whistling around them.
"just a few kisses," Draco paled.
"No! Harry, no, I didn't mean it like that. You don't understand--"
"No, Malfoy. I understand perfectly. You had me fooled for a while, but now I see what's really going on. You're the same selfish bastard you've always been," Harry whispered bitterly, turning in the snow and setting off at a quick pace towards the castle.
"Harry, wait!"
Draco picked up their fallen brooms once more and tried to run after the Gryffindor, only to be hit with an icy gust of wind so strong it nearly sent him toppling backwards.
"Slow down, please. Let me explain!"
Draco cursed himself for sounding so utterly, miserably pathetic, running as fast as he could to keep up but finding his progress ruthlessly impeded by a whirlwind of churned up snow dancing around him, sending him to his knees again and again. By the time he made it through the front door he was soaked through to the bone and shaking violently with cold. This was hardly given a moment of notice though as a fleeting glimpse of black cloak and Gryffindor scarf disappeared up the main staircase.
"Harry!" Draco's repeated petitions for Harry to stop or slow down went unanswered as Draco chased the other boy up flight after flight of stairs. Occasionally he would begin to gain on the retreating figure, but as soon as he was within arm's reach the step he was on would disappear, or an uneven stone would pop up in his path and cause him to stumble. If Draco were the type to cry, he definitely would have. He was so frustrated it was almost painful. If only he could just make Harry listen, if only he could just have a chance to explain himself. Gryffindor Tower was fast approaching, and with each step closer the chances of a speedy resolution diminished. Once inside, he knew Harry would just think and brood until he was so worked up he would never want to see Draco's face again. The Gryffindor portrait hole was only a couple hundred meters away, but suddenly an idea hit. With a burst of determination, Draco closed the last few strides between them, allowing the predicted raised stone to trip him. He tumbled to the floor in a heap, but not before he managed to grab a handful of Harry's cloak and drag him down as well.
"Malfoy, let go! I don't want to hear your excuses, let go!"
Harry struggled and squirmed, throwing as much anger through their link as possible only to find this served the singular purpose of egging the deranged Slytherin on further. Not even a swift kick in the shins deterred Draco as he consolidated their brooms into one hand, using the other to half carry, half drag Harry to the empty Transfiguration classroom close by. Once inside, he slammed the door, casting as many locking and silencing spells on it as he could think of. Harry fumed, patting down his pockets only to find he had, yet again, forgotten his wand up in his room. He bit his lower lip anxiously.
"I'm not talking to you," he reiterated, sitting on a desk with his back to the insufferable blonde.
"Fine. Just bloody well listen for once, would you?"
Draco's patience had long since evaporated, but still he refused to give up.
"You can't talk to Charlie, Harry. Not because I'm jealous or because you're my property. Merlin, Harry, are you that dense? Think about it, didn't you say yourself that he was in your dream?"
"So were you."
The barb shot back instantly, stinging Draco's pride, as well as something that went much deeper than that. Harry was right, but that didn't change anything. How could he make the thick-headed Gryffindor see?
"Harrryyy," It was so near a whine Draco actually winced to hear his own voice. "It's more than that. Haven't you seen how he's been acting? He's been smirking. He just seems to appear out of nowhere all the time. It's like he just knows where you are all the time and shows up there."
Harry turned a bit, glancing at Draco over his shoulder.
"Oh, you mean, sort of like you?"
Draco's entire face twisted into an unreadable, slightly wounded expression.
"Harry! Merlin, I don't know what I'd ever do if something happened to you. I'm just looking out for you and something about Charlie definitely does not feel right."
Harry snorted.
"Let me guess, I'm not allowed to talk to Ron or Hermione either?"
Draco bit his lip.
"Well, yeah. I don't think you should be around them, either."
Harry whirled around, completely knocking over the desk in his haste.
"It's no wonder all of them act so strange around me! I bet you've said something to them, haven't you? Warned them all not to come near me, is that it? Marking your territory. It's all your fault they never want to be around me! It's your fault I'm always alone, that I haven't anyone to talk to except for you. It's all your fault!"
Draco was speechless. He'd never encountered so much exasperation and bitterness from Harry, ever. The sick, heavy emotions roiled in his gut, completely blotting out any other things Harry might possibly be feeling. Draco actually stumbled back a step under the emotional assault.
"Harry, calm down, alright? You know what you're saying isn't true. Weasley and Granger stopped hanging around you before we were even friends, remember? They chose not to visit you in the hospital on their own. Weasley chose to take your place on the Quidditch team because he wanted to, and Granger took my rightful position as potions assistant, if you recall. I haven't even spoken a word to either of them when you haven't been around to hear exactly what I've said."
Harry was looking a little deflated, but the anger still dominated their link. Draco took a deep breath before he continued.
"There's something else you need to know, Harry. About Charlie and Snape. You know they've been acting a little strange, what with them both disappearing at odd times without a real reason. But… two days after I found, the day we fought in the hospital, I ran into Snape and Charlie in the hall talking. There was just something very odd about it, and Charlie was, well… nice to me. And then I saw his arm, and he had this red, bruised bite mark on it down towards his wrist. He said it was a dragon but it was human teeth marks, Harry, I know it. Then on Halloween, the reason I came in that night was because there was this man at the masquerade ball. He was dressed in all white, and he had hair just like Charlie's, but I couldn't see his face because of his mask. He left and I tried to follow him, but it's like... he apparated or something."
Harry opened his mouth to interrupt, but Draco rushed on.
"I know, I know you can't apparate inside Hogwarts. But one minute he was right in front of me, then there would be a loud pop from around a corner he just went around and he'd be gone. Then I'd hear another pop somewhere else. I followed it all the way to the hospital. He was going to go in, but I tried to stop him. He looked at me, and he had these eyes… they were completely black and cold and emotionless. And then he disappeared. When I see Charlie, I get the same feeling that I got when I saw the man in white. I can't explain it, but please, Harry, please. Just listen to me on this?"
The bond between them was so utterly devoid of emotion that Draco actually stole a glance at Harry's hand to make sure the ring was still there. It was, but unsurprisingly he didn't find this too reassuring. Harry was just… empty, there was no other word for it.
"Harry?"
The only response was a heavy sigh as Harry's knees seemed to completely give out beneath him, causing the boy to sink to a graceless heap on the floor. Draco approached cautiously.
"Harry, are you alright?"
Tired green eyes blinked up at him.
"Draco, do you want to leave me?" The question took him aback, and the voice was so calm and even that for a moment all Draco could do was stare. Eventually he sat down as well, back resting on a desk about an arms length from where Harry sat.
"No. Never. I love you."
The dark, messy head nodded slightly at this. Silence took a vicious hold of the room for several long, painful minutes while Draco worked up enough courage to ask the only logical question he could think of.
"Do you want to leave me?" He tried to sound as calm as Harry had, but couldn't quite keep the waver from his voice.
Harry smiled wryly at the ground, weighted lids keeping his eyes from sight. He sighed offhandedly, seeming to be drifting into another world entirely. When he spoke, Harry's voice sounded rather distant.
"Draco, I-- When my parents were killed, Dumbledore chose to place me in the care of my Muggle relatives, the Dursleys. What Dumbledore didn't know was that they hate magic, more than anything else in the world. Every day they would tell me there was no such thing as magic, but no matter what they said, stranger and more unusual things began to happen. Even the smallest things, like a moved plate or re-grown hair would have them locking me in my cupboard under the stairs. They thought that they could force me to be normal by not letting me have meals, and making me do chores, and occasionally even smacking me around a bit, like I was choosing to do magic just to spite them. The truth is, all I ever wanted was to fit in with everyone else; to have friends and watch cartoons on the tele and go to the roller rink on weekends. I just wanted to be normal, like the other kids I'd see at school."
Draco worried his lower lip as he listened, brow furrowed as he tucked this leaked information away for later questioning.
"When I got my Hogwarts letter, I thought I'd finally get to be 'normal'. I mean, if everyone else was able to make things float and disappear too, I would be just like them. Except… except when I arrived, everyone already knew my name just by looking at my forehead. Everyone seemed to know more about me and my parents and my past than I did. If anything, life has been even more abnormal than when I lived with the Dursleys. And, somewhere between saving the wizarding world, helping my escaped-convict godfather escape, being made to compete in the tri-wizard tournament, losing my godfather… well, you get the idea, I realized I don't even know what normal is anymore. I feel like a walking Muggle soap opera, alternately smiling and crying every five minutes."
Though Draco hadn't a clue what a soap opera was, it didn't sound like a good thing. He reached to take Harry's hand in his, and while the other boy didn't pull away, he didn't so much as twitch his fingers in response either. Draco opened his mouth to interrupt, but Harry didn't seem to notice.
"Look, I guess… well, I'm sorry about earlier. Realistically, I know you wouldn't do those things I said. It's just so much easier though to pretend there's a simple, understandable solution. At least then I would know why these strange things keep happening and I could make them stop. What am I supposed to do when I don't even know what's happening? More than anything, though, it's just easier to pretend like nothing peculiar is going on at all. I just block it out and pretend like it's the most ordinary thing ever for Snape and Charlie to disappear, for Ron and Hermione to just flat out ignore me, for you and I to be… whatever we are."
Draco visibly flinched.
"But then something like this happens, and I have to think about it all over again. I.. I don't want either of us to leave. I don't want it to be like this either though. I hate it so much that you're always having to save me from something, or protect me or put up with my whining and crying. I try so hard… so bloody hard… to make it so that you never have to do any of that, but it happens anyway. I just feel so out of control of everything in my life. How I've been lately just isn't even how I really am! I don't know how you can even stand to be around me like this. I'm usually really calm and even-tempered, and I've got a good sense of humor. I can hold a decent conversation, and didn't have to be reminded to eat. Before all this mess, I can't even remember the last time I cried! I--"
"Harry."
Unfocused green eyes blinked at him and Draco squeezed the hand he held reassuringly.
"I know. I've known you for over five years, seen you almost every day. I may not have been able to appreciate it all then, but I know exactly how you 'usually are'. And, this may come as a bit of a surprise, but that's still the same person you are now. It's just a little more complex at the moment."
Harry's nose wrinkled as if he thought this entire statement was utter bollocks. Draco pressed on anyway.
"Harry, I know you say you want to be 'normal', but, well, I like you exactly the way you are; strange as they come."
For a moment Harry looked like he might be offended, but then Draco winked cheekily, sticking his tongue out. They both laughed despite themselves. Harry twined his fingers loosely between Draco's, though he still looked slightly uneasy.
"Do you really mean it?"
Draco snorted, looking out from beneath his snow-wet hair to give Harry a patronizing look.
"I'll give you some slack this time, but only because nearly every last person in your life has lied to you and you've obviously got wretched trust issues. Yes. I do mean what I said. I know that right now you've got a lot going on that you're dealing with. I also know that, seeing as you 'deal with' those problems by ignoring them, you need a bit of looking after," Harry snorted. "And I know that at some point you'll revert to the old heroic, brave, self sufficient Gryffindor prat you use to be," Harry looked indignant. Draco took on a pained, long suffering and incredibly over-dramatic tone. "But, none the less, I will stay devotedly by your side in a truly un-Slytherin display of loyalty and affection. I also know that you will need me to say this several hundred more times before it ever pierces that dense skull of yours."
And, before Harry could say anything sweet and endearing in return that would undoubtedly make Draco feel sickeningly sappy, he pulled the other boy to him into a tight hug. This, of course, was met with much struggling and high pitched squeals on Harry's part, as Draco's clothes were still saturated with icy cold wetness from all the snow that had attacked him during his Harry-chasing expedition.
"Draco! My God, you're soaking wet, and you're absolutely freezing! What happened?"
Harry felt around again for his wand to do a drying charm on Draco, but quickly remembered he'd left the bloody thing in his room.
"You're telling me you didn't send all that snow and wind down on me to keep me from following you?"
Draco sounded a little disbelieving that Harry was as innocent as he appeared.
"No! I didn't do anything at all. I… I don't have my wand," Harry's cheeks were beginning to look a little pink.
"Harry! Merlin, you promised me—"
"I know, I know. I forgot. I'm sor—"
"What would you have done if someone tried something? You'd be completely defenseless!"
Draco just couldn't even believe Harry. He was so mad, he could just—
"I am not defenseless!"
And Harry leaned forward, slipping his hand up Draco's thigh teasingly before grabbing the Slytherin's wand out of his pocket and casting a drying charm on them both. Draco was speechless. Harry smirked playfully. Draco pounced. What ensued was a tickle fight like they hadn't had since Christmas. Screeches of laughter echoed around the classroom as they rolled about on the floor. Quick fingers scrambling at chests and sides and backs as they tumbled into desk legs and overturned a few chairs. Harry had just gotten Draco pinned with his shirt hiked up and was preparing to blow an enormous raspberry on the pale, squirming stomach when a high, shrill voice broke through their private world.
"Oh! What in the name of Merlin is going on here? Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter! This.. this is extremely inappropriate! Classrooms are not the place for.. for…"
Draco cleared his throat. "Umm, tickle fights, Professor. We were having a… tickle fight."
Draco and Harry both looked to be glowing red at this confession, but it did seem to placate Professor McGonagall somewhat.
"Well, in the future any such tickle fights shall have to be held elsewhere. Ten points from each of you for entering a classroom unauthorized and causing such a mess. Now, each of you to your own Common Rooms, if you please. I believe both of your classes have three rolls of parchment due tomorrow on animagi transformation theory if I'm not mistaken."
Harry in particular paled noticeably.
"Yes, professor," they both mumbled, standing and righting the toppled chairs before hurrying out the door.
Harry leaned in a bit as they bent to pick up their brooms and whispered, "Hey, Draco, do you want to come to the tow—"
"Your own Common Rooms, if you please."
McGonagall's shrill voice barked. Once outside, Draco gave Harry a quick peck on the cheek, murmuring "Library, after dinner" before turning and hurrying off towards his the dungeons. It took all of five minutes for him to realize Harry still had his wand. Sneaky bastard.