Hey! Thanks for the comments/subscribe/favorites.

I hope you all had a good Christmas. I know I didn't update last weekend, but I promise to post at least one more chapter before the new year. I also started writing a few things from this story's prequel, I really hope I can write the entire thing, but we shall see.

I hope you all like this chapter!

PS: it contains a bit of smut

-x-

When it was starting to get dark, Tonks had to tell everyone it was time for Draco to go, so with a few goodbyes he left with his cousin and Lupin.

"I will send professor Dumbledore a message so he knows we're here and you can get in, but you will have to get to the castle alone, it's not dark yet, so it should be ok" said his cousin as soon as they apparated near Hogsmeade.

She cast a patronus and Draco was able to see what looked like a dog or, more likely, a wolf fly away from them. He also noticed the immediate awkwardness between the little couple.

"You two are ridiculous, just so you know" he said.

They said nothing, so Draco only rolled his eyes and let it go, they would sort it out eventually, so with a last hug to his cousin, he went back into the castle, early enough to shower and present himself at dinner as if nothing had happened.

Dumbledore gave him a little smile, but did not attempt to talk to him, much like Snape. Draco didn't completely trust the Headmaster's words that he would not inform the other man of the Christmas arrangements, so he waited and observed. However, whether or not Snape knew, he didn't act on it and continued to act as if nothing had happened during the entire holiday.

In his dorm, Draco found his friends' presents, most likely left here with the elfs, which was why none of it arrived at the Weasleys. He checked everything, organising them along with the mess on his truck. Daphne had as usual sent him a new bottle of his shower gel and cologne from the Leo collection of her family line, but Draco found himself staring at the label, he had been using it for years, but he had never noticed there was an extra star on the Leo constellation, shining bright right next to Regulus.

It was the exact kind of little touch one should expect from Anna Greengrass.

It was times like this that Draco wished he could just go to someone and ask about what happened. It had been silly to think Sirius and Lupin would have something to say, but not realise the people next to him could know just as much, if not more. He almost wished he had gone back home and talked to Rabastan.

Draco picked up the box from his truck once again, but this time he decided to give the memos and letter more attention, see if with his new knowledge he would find out something more. It didn't take him long to find the name Lily in a few of them.

She said Lily cried all night

—

What is there to like? Unless arsehole is Lily's type I don't see what could possibly be likeable about him

Draco looked at a few of them, but did not find out what had made Lily cry all night or who was responsible, there were few notes that together seem to form a conversation he could understand, but he did however see something interesting.

I have no idea, I didn't even know Sirius had written to you, but I haven't even talked to Lestrange recently, why don't you ask him?

—

Still? You are as stubborn as your brother, just so you know. But anyway, Lily's mum sent the test thing, so I will ask Lestrange when I give it to him.

—

Draco was very confused, he wondered what Lily Potter's muggle mother could have possibly sent to Rabastan, but unfortunately, only the man himself would be able to say. He did find what he supposed was the letter Sirius had sent, he had thought the package with them only had things from Sirius first year, but there were two more, one dated 1976 and another that had no date and apparently was not for Regulus at all, but for Draco's mother.

Frowning, Draco ignored the other letter for a moment to read what Sirius had sent to his mother.

I will do it, but this is not for you, it's for Regulus.

Sent me a date and from there we can make a schedule, I don't want anyone to know when I'm around, this is a deal between you and me in Regulus memory,if your Death Eater husband do anything, I will leave.

Time for dear Lucius to show his colors and tell what is more important to him, his son or Voldemort.

S.

Draco was confused for a moment, but he soon realised this was most likely about the thing Sirius had told him about helping his mother when she was pregnant with him, he was vaguely aware that Regulus had died not long before his birth.

He put the letter down and grabbed the other.

Regulus,

Gringots just made it officially and I got everything Uncle Alphard left for me, I'm staying with the Potters for Christmas, but I'm moving to his place on the summer, so you can tell father to fucking stop because I will never go back to that damn house. And since when am I responsible for Narcisa? She got hurt because her husband is a fucking Death Eater, she chose him, not me.

Also I don't know what game Lestrange think he is playing, but you better tell him that if he hurt James I'm gonna kill him.

S.

Draco wanted to feel annoyed, but his confusion was greater, he didn't know what Sirius meant by his mother getting hurt, but it was not the first time he heard something of the sort and it was most likely part of the reason she ended up needing Sirius help. This letter was obviously from after Sirius had run and apparently something else had happened on the occasion. At least one thing was clear: Sirius definitely believed Rabastan had been interested in James Potter.

"Maybe even thought something was actually going on between them?"

Draco had no idea when James and Lily or Rabastan and Crouch had gotten together to make any theories, maybe Sirius had just been jealous not to get his so called best friend's full attention.

With a deep sigh he started to put everything back in the box, there was no point to overthink everything now when he had much more important things to do. So, the remaining of the holidays was completely focused on the cabinet and writing down notes on the things he needed help from Flitwick.

—

Although no one had noticed anything, things did change after Christmas, both remaining Weasleys were way less aggressive towards Draco when they happened to see each other and Harry was more affectionate, he wanted to be together more and seemed generally more happy. Draco's little present was obviously noticed by everyone, so it became a fashion trend within two weeks, as well as a topic of speculation, because Harry would try to lie and say he just wanted to wear it, but anyone perceptive enough would notice his silly smile and a little blush whenever he was reminded about the cuff.

The bad thing about people noticing that Harry Potter might be secretly dating was all the people either trying to find out who it was or the girls that desperately wanted to steal him for themselves. By the time Valentine's Day was close, Harry had received all kinds of presents and propositions, someone had even sent him an underwear.

"At least it is a nice one" said Draco laughing at him in their room.

"You can have it!" said Harry annoyed and throwing the thing at him

"What am I going to do with it? Unless you have a fetich" he teased

"What?" said Harry confused and Draco just rolled his eyes at him and threw the thing away.

"Nevermind! But still, I was thinking about what we could do for Valentine..." he tried to sound casual, he had put a lot of thought on this for a while now "and since we already hang in here so much, we could… go to the prefects bathroom"

He looked at Harry expecting some embarrassed reaction, but the boy was just confused.

"The prefects bathroom? What for?"

Draco took a deep breath, his boy was cute, but sometimes he was just too dense.

"So we can get naked in a nice bathtub"

And that got him the right reaction and the little insecure look Harry always gave him when he tried to take a step further in their sexual activities, which so far consisted of handjobs and a lot of coming on their pants.

"What if we get caught?" Harry finally said in a small voice.

"We can put wards and you have an invisibility cloak, if only one of us is there is not going to be weird"

"But I'm not a prefect!"

"But you are a Quidditch captain, surely you know you can use it now"

And obviously, he forgot. But Draco knew what he was actually doing and took a defeated breath.

"We don't have to if you don't want to, it was just a suggestion" he said and Harry looked down.

"It's not that I don't want to..."

"It's ok"

It wasn't, he wanted to explore more and try different things, he had two years to fully understand himself and what he liked and what he wanted. He wasn't comfortable going around and finding some random person to do it, he wanted to be with someone he actually liked and recently that person was Harry, he wanted him to be the one, but Harry was just too insecure and uncomfortable on his own skill to move forward while Draco had been craving more for a while now.

"I just..." started Harry "no one told me about sex or even puberty while I was growing up, I picked it up on the way, so I don't know much stuff. Fred told me a lot of things during the summer, but what if I'm horrible at it and I mess it up?"

"No embarrassing sex talk? Really?" Draco immediately said only registering the beginning.

"Thankfully no"

"Not really..." said Draco frowning "it is awful to go through it, but it's probably more confusing if no one tells you it's coming"

"Try that when you're hearing voices and everyone in school thinks you're petrifying people. It took months before Seamus made a joke at Neville about having a wet dream and I found out everyone had that"

"Is that why you didn't like to get off?" said Draco, things made a lot more sense with a bit of context.

"That too… muggles don't like gays, at least none of the ones I know, so for a while I didn't even thought that could be it… even when I found out it was ok, I thought that maybe I was wrong"

"And then I kissed you" said Draco with a smirk, but the boy didn't smile back, he only got more shy, redness showing even over his dark skin.

"And then I felt your hard on and I realised I wanted to touch your dick" the boy admitted and Draco felt the heat on his face too.

"You should have…"

"As I said, I don't want to mess up…"

"You are going to mess it up, everyone does it, there is a reason they all say it's better on the second try and I hear it can be worse with girls. Theo said Daphne bled so much they actually had to go tell her mother what they were doing because they thought they had done something really wrong, he said he almost didn't want to do it again. Not to mention the embarrassment, her parents were kind enough to look away and only because Theo has been in love with Daphne since we were like five, they are as engaged as you can be before seventeen, but Astoria makes fun of them all the time"

"That sounds horrifying"

"It was, but they are fine now. My point is, we can learn a lot about it, but we'll only actually know what to do when we do it"

"But what if I'm like... sucking you off and you hate it?" Harry said frustrated.

And that actually made Draco stop and look at Harry

"You want to suck me off?" he said a bit carefully and a bit surprised

"I.. well" and Harry really blushed "yeah" he said quietly

Just the idea sent a rush of adrenaline all over Draco's body, he had been wanting that for a long time, he had tried twice now to get his mouth on his boyfriend, he had been thinking if he would have to just come out and say his intentions out loud.

"You are just impossible sometimes" he said exasperated "at this point, even if you turn out to be the worst cock sucker in the world I'm not going to hate it. In fact I offer my body for practice so you can get really good at it"

Harry snorted, but he looked more nervous now that he had admitted to his secret desire and there was a small awkward silence where Harry tried not to look at him and he tried not to get his hopes up. His dick was a whole other matter and Harry did notice while he was pretending not to, which didn't help and Draco thought how worse he would make things if he just tried to get off there with the boy just watching.

"It did do wonders for me..."

But for all Harry was shy and frustrating he was also a Gryffindor and Draco would forever sing praises for their bravery, because Harry actually left the couch to kneel in front of him. At some point Draco did wonder how someone who was so enthusiastic and passionate could have thought they were going to do it wrong.

They also did agree to go to the prefect's bathroom for Valentine.

—

"Keep the cloak close" said Draco when they got in the bathroom "the wards are for proximity, there is no way we would be able to leave before someone comes in, so if the alarms does sound one of us can hide with the cloak"

"What about our clothes?"

"We hide it obviously, but I doubt someone will be paying much attention to that when there is a more interesting thing to look at" he said as he looked over Harry and the boy, as usual, got embarrassed.

Draco thought a bit about what to do, taking each other's clothes would be nicer, but the way Harry was nervous, maybe the more pragmatic approach would help more, they would have plenty of time in the pool to kiss and touch each other. So while Harry stood in the changing room just looking around nervously, Draco very straight forward took his clothes off and with a deep breath and his heart racing more than he thought it would, he looked up at Harry with his full body on display.

Harry didn't move to touch him, but he did look and Draco could feel his body flush in a mixed rush of embarrassment, self consciousness and excitement. They had done a lot of touching under clothes and Harry got a nice close up view of his crotch, but this was the first time he was fully naked and in plain view and Draco felt more insecure and nervous than he had initially thought he would, he was fully confident on his decision and he didn't have any significant body issue, he thought he looked quite good actually, but in a way he wanted Harry's approval and desire. The way his boyfriend's beautiful eyes were glued on him with a hungry look was a good sign, in fact Draco was really enjoying it.

"Do you want me to do a turn around?" he eventually said, but not quite as ironically as he wanted.

"You might as well" was Harry's cheeky replay.

"I will show you mine if you show me yours"

And it felt a bit silly to say it when he was already naked, but he wanted to give his boyfriend a push, he didn't have to do it just because Draco had, but in a way this was also about trust and he wanted Harry to do it too.

Harry nodded and a bit clumsy started to take his clothes off. He was nervous and flushed and even half hard from looking at Draco, so he didn't look up as Draco had done it, but he did stand there naked for Draco to look.

And he did look.

He had felt a lot thought the clothes and when he was able to slip his hands under, but it wasn't the same thing and none of Harry's clothes were a close fit, he always wore at least a size bigger, so even when Draco had checked him out around the school, he never had a really good view. Now he was getting it in full, his olive skin was market in certain parts by a tan he got with clothes on and he had more body hair than Draco could ever naturally have, but Harry was a good mix of skinny and fit in all the right parts and Draco wanted to taste every centimetre of it.

He got closer to Harry and put his hands on his face so the boy would look at him and see the desire in Draco's eyes, see that all was well. For one second Harry's eyes looked at the Dark Mark on his arms and Draco felt like retreating and hiding it, but Harry grabbed him and kissed the most hideous part of him, like a kiss would break the spell and make the mark disappear. They looked at each other, a mutual agreement to ignore that little thing and they kissed and hands finally explored the exposed skin and they only stopped when Draco squeezed Harry's arse a bit too rough.

"What's your thing with my arse? Not that I don't like when you do that, but I did notice you do it a lot" said Harry

"I just really like it, mine is all skinny, but I can get my hands full on yours, it's my favourite type of arse"

And Harry both giggled and looked at him as if he had said something scandalous.

"You have a favourite type?"

"Don't you?"

"I haven't seen many"

"Come on! You share a dorm with boys, you play quidditch! You really never checked out anyones arse just because?"

And he got embarrassed and Draco was already rolling his eyes before Harry even opened his mouth.

"What?! No! I wouldn't… they are my mates!" said the boy

"I don't know why you still surprise me… but then the way you are so obvious people would have noticed by now if you were checking other guys arse in the corridors"

"The corridors?"

"Well yeah… I check you out all the time and you don't live with me... you don't have to look at Weasley specifically just because you share a room with him, I do because Theo usually forgets to set an alarm when Daphne sleeps in our dorm and… someone has to wake them up" he was smirking when he said it, but Harry didn't think it was too funny.

"Why don't you go and grab his arse then!" Harry said with a bit of angry face.

And Draco could give him an answer that would just ruin it all, but he surprised even himself with his self control.

"I've spent almost two years knowing I was bent before you and I were a thing, so I went exploring. But it's you I'm with right now" and he squeezed Harry again "and it's your arse I want on my hands. Also Theo is my brother"

That calmed things down a little, but Harry still had a bit of an annoyed face, one that Draco thought was actually kind of cute.

"Come on, let's get into the water so we can wash away your jealousy"

And he took Harry by the hand to get inside and the boy did follow and silently they started to turn on the taps of water and bubbles.

"I don't think your arse is too skinny" said Harry still a bit sulky

Draco went to him and kissed him to try and make peace, it was just supposed to be a sweet kiss, but a jealous Harry was also a possessive one and they got a bit carried away.

"I never thought much about being gay as a whole" said Harry when they finally moved to the water "I just think of you"

"And that is very sweet, but you can explore yourself, sure I want you to do it with me, I've only been doing it with you, but I don't want us to not be able to say we like something because at some point it involved someone else" Draco said and it wasn't even because of Theo, they were practically brothers and he never actually fantasised anything with him, but he did date Pansy for a while and it had started to get sexual before they stopped.

Harry took his glass off and went down in the water, coming back a few seconds later and swimming towards Draco. They looked at each other a bit, Harry's hair was completely different when wet, the usual mess would settle in a wave pattern, maybe if they boy ever let it grow enough, his hair would actually settle in curly pattern instead of the mess it usually was. However, Draco's thoughts went away when Harry lowered down to suck and give a little bite on Draco's nipple sending shivers down.

"I did get the idea of sucking you from Seamus, he and Dean were talking and he kept saying it was really good and that Dean should ask Ginny to do it. Ron wasn't there luckily, I'm pretty sure he would murder both of them. But I couldn't stop thinking about it and at some point I just really wanted to get my mouth down, but you were the only thing on my mind... always" Said the boy before he once again moved to suck the other nipple, Draco hadn't realised how sensitive they were.

"I don't think of other people, I have only thought about you since we got together, I just have eyes and I notice things… like the fact Finnigans checks you out, so you shouldn't let him know about your new found desire"

Harry looked up amused, but also a bit doubtful.

"He does?"

"Yeah, not too much, there is some Ravenclaw, no ideas who, he is not in our year, and he looks waaay more, but then Finnegans shares a dorm with you"

"How do you even know that?"

"Because I don't want to get caught looking at you, so I just look all over like a good observer. The first time I caught Finnegans he was actually checking a Hufflepuff… That guy everyone thought you petrified on second year"

"Justin?"

"I think so… I got curious because Pansy mentioned at the start of the year how ridiculous Romilda Vance was because she was still trying to get into your pants even though she was caught last year with Finnegans balls deep into her in one of the empty classes on the third floor. They were caught by Sprout, which is the only reason they didn't get in deep trouble"

"I never even heard about that!" Harry said scandalised and finally getting his mouth aways from Draco's chest.

"You share a room with him!" said Draco surprised

"He wasn't talking to me most of last year"

"Clearly you don't hear the castle's gossip either, Pansy tells me all the good stuff, also heads up, people think you and Granger are together to get back at Weasley, you might want to tell her that"

"I thought people were done with thinking me and Hermione would ever be together" Harry said rolling his eyes.

"I know... I particularly think people should have thought it was Lovegood, she might be mad, but she is quite beautiful. But, since Granger is the only girl you hang with and the cuff just pretty much told everyone you're dating and you're never subtle after we are together, people made their own theories. It's just that not everyone has considered it doesn't have to be a girl" said Draco with a little smirk.

"I don't mind if people know I'm gay" Harry said a bit thoughtful

"Well I do because we can't afford to get caught, but once this war is over you're free to shout to everyone how queer you are"

Harry snorted, but also looked at Draco a bit sad, he understood exactly why they were hiding, didn't mean it wasn't hard some days. Still they were there to enjoy what they could share and so they did, a mix of playing in the water like kids, but randomly touching each other in different ways just to try it out. Eventually they even got out of the water to play with the bath oil and Harry's hand had brushed in between Draco's arse cheeks, but he never got to find out if he could have made Harry slide his finger in because, of all the people to catch them, Myrtle was certainly the worst.

"You're dead" said Draco "it's not like you can get off looking at us, you're just here to cock block us"

"You are the one that stopped, you can keep going if you want" she said with a damn smirk on her face.

Draco was not happy they not only had to leave but beg the ghost to not tell anyone about it, which was a huge security risk for them.

"The ghost is worst" he told Harry "because I can't obviate it, so we're actually going to have to be nice to her to keep her mouth shut"

Harry it turned out was just as annoyed which made Draco just a little less miserable.

"I would suggest we finish in a cupboard, but I don't trust her not to follow us" said Harry

"It's fine… this was too good to end in a cupboard anyway"

"Yeah… it really was" said Harry with a soft smile.

Harry had that smile Draco loved, so despite the ghost, it had been a really good date.