"An idiot. That's what you are. Truly the most outstanding bloody idiot in the entire bloody school. Uggh" Draco paced nervously in his bedroom, unable to sleep even with the potions stored beside his bed. Sleeping, Knockout, even the Pain ones weren't touching the deep inconsolable burn nesting itself in the center of his chest. It was eating him alive, and nothing would quell it. But alcohol was at least making it worthwhile.
"Just had to let him see, didn't you? You saw him lifting your sleeve and you bloody well froze up! IDIOT" he screamed the last word at the top of his lungs, flinging an empty Firewhiskey bottle against a wall. The shattering glass bouncing across the cold dungeon floor didn't phase him as he paced back and forth angrily. He had no one to blame but himself for the mess he was in, and he'd nearly been able to forget the persistent throbbing south of his beltline.
His thoughts raced as he tried to grasp onto the memories he had stored earlier of Harry's touch, his green eyes wet with arousal and... No. He couldn't allow himself to believe Harry really had any kind of real attraction to him. It was for show. He needed... no... He wanted to use him as an excuse, an easy way out of his dull relationship with the Weasel. The only look that was real was the disgust when Harry threw away his arm like the absolute trash that it was.
"TRASH!" he screamed, into the last bottle of alcohol he was grasping, before upending the bottle and swallowing until his eyes watered and his lungs screamed for him to breathe air. Tipping the bottle back down, he roughly rubbed at his face with the sleeve of his robes.
Immersed in his wallowing, he didn't hear the upperclassman approach behind him until he spoke.
"Aren't you underage?"
Draco swiveled his head in the direction of the door, vision blurring and head whooshing like a bowl filled with maple syrup.
"Mind your own bloody business, Zoat'l"
"See, I would..." replied the upperclassman, lips pinching together and eye-lids lowering marginally in judgement "But there's the slight issue of the fact that you've made it my problem, what with all the screaming and such. Worse than a bloody howler after a boozy night out, you are."
Without hesitating, Draco mocked Zoat'l's judgmental look and retorted, "Oh and I'm quite sure you are the bloody expert aren't you. Well, I'll have you know I am a very important person around here and I'll not be spoken to by the likes of you. You haven't the foggiest bloody idea about what I'm dealing with."
Zoat'l let his eyes drift downwards. Draco was suddenly aware of his erection again, as raging as it had been earlier, and rushed forward to shove the other boy out of the room before he could see it. Zoat'l instead looked at the arm reaching towards him, bottle in hand, finger pointed, and wagging in his general direction. The faintest bit of redness could be seen below the cuff of the robes, and Zoat'l smirked. So that was the secret hm?
"Believe me, Malfoy, I'm fully aware of what you... deal with. I may not yet be one of you. But I will. And more than that, I will make it my sole business to ensure your business is always my business."
Confused, Draco squinted his eyes and looked at the door closing in front of his nose, the upperclassman having left without a fuss. As his eyes focused and unfocused, he realized his Mark had slipped into view.
"BLOODY IDIOT" he screamed again, mussing his hair with his free hand.
-Meanwhile-
Harry clutched the map in a fist and bounded down the stairs out of the Gryffindor common room two at a time. He could hardly breathe, his heart was singing in his chest in sheer, reckless abandon as were his thoughts.
'He's here. He didn't go. He felt Him calling, and he didn't Go! What could that mean? I mean, it can only mean one thing, right? He didn't go. He didn't want to go. He actually chose to stay here, knowing he'll probably be punished. Oh no...'
Shaking his head, black hair dropping gracelessly over his eyes and nose, Harry furrowed his brows in determination. No, he wouldn't let himself think about the harm coming to Mal-Draco. Draco, not Malfoy. A Malfoy would have gone scrambling to the Dark Lord's beckoning, particularly if it avoided bodily harm to their preternaturally good looks.
Scrambling awkwardly around a pillar, Harry rounded one corner too quickly and didn't notice his shoelace was untied. His outer stride clamped down firmly on the loose lace and his eyes widened as he braced his arm for the fall. He caught himself with enough time to prevent the blunt of the damage, and inwardly thanked his Seeker reflexes, but as he wiped his face he realized he'd bit his lip clean through and it was already swelling.
"Bloody hell" he said aloud, getting to his feet again.
Taking advantage of the moment, he paused to catch his breath and unraveled the map he'd unceremoniously clenched in his fist along the way to ensure he hadn't torn it. No damage, thankfully. And it appeared Draco's steps hadn't moved.
'Odd..' he thought, 'But, good! At least I know I'm going to catch him. One more hallway to get through and I'm there'
Looking up, Harry got the feeling he was being watched, but couldn't find the source.
'Probably Peeves. Or bloody Moaning Myrtle again, hoping to catch me shirtless... again' he shook his messy head once more, and inhaled deeply. He'd need all the courage he could get if he wanted to convince Draco to forgive him. Then again, it was his own fault, the git got himself wrapped up with Death Eater business.
A small piece of Harry still fretted that it was all a show, a face to get him to trust Draco, so the Dark Lord could take advantage of him. A strong, if small, piece of worry.
Sprinting again down the hallway, he slowed when he heard voices ahead of him. As he drew nearer, he could hear that there was at least one male voice... Draco? But who is he talking to?
Harry slid into an alcove down the hall from where Draco's footsteps were on the map, and strained his ears to listen.
"Bloody hopeless. Bloody idiot. Why would he come here? After what you did..."
There was a dull *thwack* and Harry jumped briefly. 'Is he... hitting something?' he leaned further, hair dangling dangerously out of the alcove into the moonlight streaming through a nearby window.
"One chance. You said if you ever had a chance with that bloody golden boy you'd take it. Even stuck your hand out in friendship on day one, you smitten bloody fool. *thud* And now it's all ruined. All because you bloody well froze up and let him see your secret. *thud* The one thing... You just couldn't keep it hidden... *thud* Must think you're... *thud* no way to... *thud* this mess"
Harry furrowed his brows deeply. Whatever Draco was hitting, it was reverberating and masking some of what he was saying. He seemed to be talking to himself.
Deciding to creep closer, slowly, Harry peered into the hallway. Where Draco should have been, there was no Draco. Confused, Harry looked side to side trying to find the weak, sniffling voice nearby. Peering into the dark alcove beside him, he finally found him. Sitting on the ground, knees bent up to his chest, arms wrapped tightly around them, head slamming into the stone wall behind him, with eyes shut tightly was Draco. Whether they were closed from the pain of slamming his head repeatedly, or from the pain of his thoughts, neither boy probably knew for sure.
Realizing the reverberating was Draco's skull against the bloody stone wall Harry dashed forward, hands outstretched, and tried to sandwich them between the wall and the offending head. One hand succeeded, and Harry's shoulders slumped forward in relief before his face screwed up in pain as the skull slammed against his fingers as they rushed between it and the wall.
-A/N-
Ten years, a lot of angst, and one more cliffie later, I'm back!
I know, if any of you are still even here and interested, you're probably angry. But in my defense, I *did* warn you all that I was entering a pretty bad situation. That bad situation evolved into an extremely good one, actually, before devolving into bad again and then good, then bad, then really good... well now I'm here. I've been missing writing rather more than I can, ironically, put into words. I won't tarnish this chapter with the long-winded answer of how I've been, I'd rather release a full author's note soon.
The TL;DR is:
I'm married, I'm 30, my step-kids are full grown now, one of them just had their first child [A girl!], I have been diagnosed with, and been treating, Thyroid Disease among other things, and basically I just write, play video games, stream on Twitch sometimes, and shitpost on Twitter. If you want to find me there, and basically anywhere these days, I'm CherryGryffon!
What to expect with my stories?
Well, 'Of Snakes and Spells' actually has been speaking to me, and I'm excited to announce that I have one more chapter fully prepared already, with intent to release later this weekend, and I have the sketchings of the next chapter lined up ready to be written.
I am taking on a writing project for another website with the intent to publish one new story each month there, in the hopes it will spur me into writing a heck of a lot more. That should include this story.
Home Scary Home, however, I have to accept that it will not exist in more than its current form. It was basically smut/porn without plot, or PWP, and I don't logically have a use for carrying on with it anymore as I exercise that writing urge in OC work on other websites. Again, if interested in any of that, or you have general questions and curiosities, look for my Twitter and feel free to ask! Until this weekend, I hope this chapter is a sufficient first apology for my absence, and a tease for what's to come.