After the party, Blaise stayed over at his house, dodging Daphne's advances that got steadily less subtle as the party went on, and Pansy had stayed at Cole's then came round in the morning bringing pastries and coffee for breakfast, they had obviously made up since their argument last week.
The all sat out on the balcony, picking at their breakfast and drinking their coffees, catching up about the previous night.
"So I noticed you disappearing off for quite a while mister" Pansy directed at Draco, smirking into her mug "Following a devilishly handsome man out of the party"
"Excuse me?!" Blaise exclaimed "You're dating someone in the ministry?!"
"Oh not just someone in the ministry Blaise" Pansy corrected "The new, young, oh-so-gorgeous head of the DMLE"
Blaise's jaw dropped open as he looked from Pansy's smug face to Draco, who was staring down silently.
"Well you kept that one in your back pocket" he shook his head but looked impressed "Have you been getting it on in his office this entire time? You sneaky little minx"
"God that's so hot" Pansy said, looking out into the distance "Cole and I have done it in his Quidditch changing rooms, but honestly, it's not romantic at all, it just smells like sweaty men" she pulled a disgusted face.
"Cheap date your boyfriend is" Blaise smirked.
"Oh shut up you, you're just jealous that you're the only one out of the three of us not getting any regular action" she retorted.
Blaise gaped indignantly then changed the subject.
"I can't believe you've been shacking up with the Head of the DMLE" Blaise said "There's something oddly poetic in that isn't there?"
"Do you mean ironic?" Pansy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Does he make new laws as you guys do it?" Blaise asked with gory interest, ignoring Pansy.
Pansy laughed "I do decree that this cock shall see the time of its life"
"I do decree that these desks are made for fucking on -"
"Stop it already! We ended things at the party" Draco finally snapped, standing up "And we never fucked anywhere, because apparently I'm just an uptight coward in all aspects of my life, which we all knew anyway" and with that he stormed inside, leaving Blaise and Pansy to exchange shocked and guilty looks.
Draco stormed through to his room and got back under his covers, pulling them up over his head. It really was over between them. Those weeks of excitement just gone, finished. All because Draco couldn't control his jealousy and let himself relax enough to do what was needed to hold a man's interest. He squeezed his eyes shut, remembering the way Fin held him in the hotel suite bed. Would anyone ever hold him like that again?
He felt the sides of his bed dip as Blaise and Pansy got inside the covers with him.
"What happened babe?" Pansy asked softly, lying on her side in front of him and holding his hand tightly. He felt Blaise crawl in behind him.
He took a deep breath and told them about being stood up for Potter, about them being a secret, something Finlay was ashamed of, about not being able to shake his pureblood expectations and fear of his father finding out, about not being able to give up his virginity, about their last argument.
"You're not a coward" Pansy murmured softly "It's your first time, it should feel right, and whichever lucky man gets to be your first should not be keeping you a secret"
"I completely agree" Blaise said, shifting closer and spooning Draco "whoever gets this ass needs to know how lucky they are" and Draco felt him try not to laugh.
"Pansy's right Blaise" Draco smirked "You really do need to get laid" and his friends laughed.
- 0 -
Harry spent his free period on Monday in a secluded corner of the library, researching more about the potion they were working on. He had thought a lot about the weekend and what happened at the Ministry party with Malfoy, what he had seen...
Harry tried to clear his head of the image but he found it hard, especially at night, to rid himself of the visual, and as he touched himself, he would replace Blackwell with himself, he would imagine himself pressing Malfoy against a desk, his legs wrapped around Harry's waist, erections pushing into each others abs, making Draco shout as he came with Harry instead.
His face burned as he felt his crotch twitch, and tried to think of anything else. He thought of bumping into Lucius afterwards - which did wonders to bring down his erection - and how it had led to Draco talking to him again, but it didn't explain Draco's mood last week, though he assumed now that it was something to do with Finlay and Harry meeting, since that was the only event that happened between Malfoy being completely fine with him, and doing a complete 180 degree turn.
He was still thinking about it all when the chair opposite him pulled out and Draco Malfoy sat down, putting his own books on the table and looking at Harry, flushing a little.
"Hey" Draco said, and Harry was happy to hear his normal tone back. He smiled with relief.
"Hey" he greeted warmly back.
There was a silence as both seemed to think about how to start a conversation again.
"I'm sor-"
"Can we ta-"
They both paused as they cut over each other.
"You go first" Draco said. Harry wished he'd beat him to it, had Malfoy been in mid-apology? He'd said a genuine thank you to him at the weekend, was he now going to apologise as well?
"Can we talk?" Harry asked "About last week, when you were mad at me?"
Draco looked down, feeling ashamed of how he had acted, but nodded.
"What happened?" Harry asked quietly.
"It's stupid" Draco muttered, and it was, he realised now, how badly he'd acted towards Potter who had no idea they'd been seeing each other.
"It's fine" Harry replied with kind eyes "I won't judge."
"I was meant to see Fin last Wednesday night, but he never showed up" Draco started, not meeting Harry's eyes. "So I went to Hogsmeade to catch up with the other Slytherin's for drinks and I saw you both in that posh, couples restaurant, having your candlelit dinner, holding hands and looking like you were about to kiss and I got upset and... jealous I guess, and I took it out on you" he finished, frowning.
"Malfoy I'm sorry!" Harry said, he had no idea Finlay had stood him up to see Harry, that must have hurt. He focused on other parts of what Draco said.
"What do you mean "couples restaurant" and "holding hands" though?" Harry asked quizzically.
"Potter did you look around you when you were there? It's all couples, it's kind of a romantic place, and you were holding hands when I saw you, I don't know why you're both lying about that" Draco looked annoyed.
The memory came back to Harry.
"Shit, no, we were talking about Hogwarts and Umbridge and I showed him the scars" Harry held up his hand "He moved closer and took my hand to see it closely, there was nothing romantic in it" he said, but as he said it he was unsure, Draco was right, it was all couples there, and the way Blackwell's gaze had flicked to his lips...
"Oh" Draco said "I guess I saw it out of context" he said, looking slightly pained.
"Hey at least it seems like you both um... made up?" Harry tried to find the words for what he had walked in on, blushing as he spoke.
"We broke up actually" Draco said blandly.
Harry stared at him, shocked. Guilt suddenly taking over him.
"Well I guess just 'ended things', since 'break up' would imply we were in a relationship, which I was informed we weren't, so..." Draco trailed off quietly.
"I'm - I'm so sorry" Harry said, feeling pained that he caused that "If me going for dinner with him, and walking in on you both caused that. Shit, I'm so sorry" he felt awful.
Draco looked at him oddly for a few seconds, then shook his head. "It wasn't your fault, if anything you just sped up the inevitable, and at least I didn't go - I mean" Draco blushed a little, had he seriously just been about to say that at least he didn't go all the way with him? Get a grip Draco!
Draco faltered, picking his words "It's better it ended now, sooner rather than later you know? We would never have been able to do what you both could, go out in public together and not worry about what people say, it was a secret for both of us, he was ashamed to be seen with me, and I'm not allowed to be with a man" Draco tried and failed to keep the pain out of his voice.
Harry wanted to reach over and take his hand, or pull him into a hug, or kiss away the pain.
"I'm sorry" Draco said suddenly "for taking all that out on you last week" he looked into Harry's eyes, and Harry could see he was genuinely sorry.
"It's fine" Harry said softly "I mean it hurt after we'd been getting along so well but I understand. You know you can tell me if I do something that bothers you though right?"
Draco looked away, and Harry tilted his head curiously.
"I didn't mean what I said in Potions about Ron being right about you" Harry said, remembering Draco's panicked face.
Draco looked up at him, nervously hopeful "So you won't send me back to Azkaban?" he asked quietly.
Harry did a double-take, shocked "Azkaban? What are you talking about? I would never send you to Azkaban, I tried my best to keep you out of there completely!"
"The guards said -" and Draco hesitated, scared to bring it up.
"They said I would do that?" Harry asked, looking furious.
"If I said one wrong word to you or your friends, I could say goodbye to my freedom, you would send me back there" Draco whispered.
Harry was shocked, appalled. It explained so much of how Draco had acted this year so far. Choosing not to speak to him in case he said the wrong thing, backing off and having an internal meltdown when Harry had said Ron was right about him, the way he needed validation that day in Potions that Harry needed to keep Draco there. He had been terrified into not speaking his mind for fear of it putting him back in Azkaban.
Harry shook his head in disbelief.
"Draco" Harry said, using his first name again to show he was serious. "I am not sending you to Azkaban. You can speak your mind, you can get mad at me, you can say the wrong thing, I'm not sending you to Azkaban, okay?"
Draco gave a small nod, but Harry could still see a glimmer of fear in his eyes.
Harry leaned forward and grabbed his hand "Draco I'm not doing it, unless you literally murder somebody in cold blood, I am not sending you to Azkaban. I don't care how mad at me you are, even if we fight, I'm not doing it, you don't belong there" he told the Slytherin firmly.
Draco looked down at their hands, and Harry went to grab his back, embarrassed, why did he keep doing that?
But as he went to pull them back, Draco held on tightly, he looked up and met Harry's eyes "Thank you" he whispered before releasing Harry's hands.
"You should be able to date who you want" Harry said quietly "Your father shouldn't stop you from being happy" he frowned. Would Draco open up now that they were talking again?
Draco just shrugged "It's not exactly him stopping me" he lied convincingly, it was almost automatic how easily he could defend his father now "Like you said the other day, I have traditions to uphold, all Purebloods have the same rules."
Harry smiled sympathetically, "Times need to change" he said, and there was a short silence.
"Well on a brighter note" Draco said, smiling suddenly "I did manage to pinch something from the Manor last week that might be interesting for our potion"
Harry watched curiously as Draco pulled out another of the charmed glass cases, like the one he'd given Neville his sapling in.
"What's that?" Harry asked, looking at the small, stubby, dark-brown plant with it's long, fiery orange leaves.
"It's a Phoenix Tear Plant" Draco said proudly "Healing properties like you wouldn't believe, and though it needs some researching, I really think this might work for our potion" and Harry loved seeing the way his eyes lit up.
"And you're parents are just totally cool with you stealing two insanely rare plants from Malfoy Manor?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Oh I only took one, it should be enough"
"I meant the one you gave Neville" Harry reminded him "Along with a nice bit of Slytherin-style politics to get Harper off his back?" he smirked at Draco.
Draco shrugged innocently but couldn't help but grin "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about Potter. And what my parents don't know can't hurt them" he smirked.
- 0 -
He met up with Ron and Hermione later on and posed the question of homosexuality to them, Ron was a pureblood after all.
"Is the wizarding world against people being gay?" Harry broached the subject cautiously as they sat together at dinner that evening.
"In general no" Ron replied, then his head snapped up "Why, has someone said something homophobic to you? Because I will -"
"No, no" Harry rushed "but thank you Ron, I appreciate the protectiveness"
"Well have you met someone then?" Hermione asked curiously "Are you worried about being seen with them in case people comment on it?"
"No I haven't met someone" Harry said, though he couldn't stop his eyes from flicking to Draco wistfully "But I did wonder, you know, if or when I do, what the reaction might be" he lied.
"Well for the most part, people will be fine, though as it's you there will one-hundred percent be gossip" Ron rolled his eyes "Your problems will come from the Slytherin's, though no surprise there... Purebloods are still so against it, they think people's sole purpose in life is to make money and reproduce. They are massive homophobics" he said with disgust, looking at the Slytherin's.
"It's not really their fault" Hermione sighed. "Their parents bring them up to think that way. It must be awful if any of them are gay or bisexual, never being able to explore that whole part of your life" she said thoughtfully.
"But you're a pureblood?" Harry said to Ron "And you're okay with me?"
Ron laughed "Big ol' blood traitors though aren't we?" he grinned "And besides, my family have never really been the same as that lot" he nodded over at the Slytherin's.
"But I mean, what's the worst that could happen to them?" Harry asked "If they were an only child and were gay, what would the parents actually do about it?"
"Oh they can get medieval real quick" Ron said darkly. "Dad told me once about a colleague, pureblood man, had an only child who he caught having sex with another guy. He tried to sweep it under the rug and arranged a marriage with him to a pureblood witch, but the witches parents caught him getting with her brother instead" Ron pulled a face "Next thing my dad hears is that his colleague's wife is pregnant all of a sudden, and the day she has her baby boy, the other son just disappears without a trace."
"He was disowned?!" Harry asked in shock.
Ron shook his head "His body and the witches brother's body were found two months later, Ministry swept the whole thing under the rug" he pulled a disgusted face.
Harry and Hermione's jaw dropped, horrified.
"But that won't be a normal reaction surely? That's just one terrible human being" Hermione asked, appalled.
"I think mostly they'll take wives, or husbands if it's a Lesbian, and just have secret affairs" Ron shrugged, starting to pile his plate with food now that his story was over. "Honestly, I think threatening to disinherit or disown them is usually enough of a threat. It drags the whole of their family's name through the mud"
"They wouldn't give up money for love?" Harry asked curiously.
Ron laughed "Slytherin's mate, what do you think?" and Harry wondered if that was the reason Malfoy was so scared to have his secret come out.
Harry drooped in his seat, feeling disappointed. Hermione gave Ron a pointed look over his shoulders.
"But I mean, that's not really all it comes down to" Ron continued quickly, catching on "Pureblood families, let's take the Malfoy's for example" he said quietly "Right now without Lucius, Draco's future would be thrown into all sorts of uncertainty. Even now with Lucius being a bloody death eater, he's the one with the gold that bought back their reputation. Without him, the world would see Draco as just a death eater without the gold or reputation or fear-mongering to earn his place in society. His entire future career would be on the line, he'd be shunned from that whole society, he'd lose his family home, his wealth, his security. He'd be left with nothing. And he'd lose his family, who were kind of the whole reason he ended up doing the things he got condemned for, so it would all end up being for nothing" Ron paused and Hermione raised her eyebrows at him, shocked. But Harry saw what he meant, and was shocked at the level Ron had understood something so emotional.
He turned to Hermione "You must be so proud, he now has the emotional range of a tablespoon" he laughed, playing off her teaspoon comment in fifth year.
"Hey!" Ron said indignantly as Hermione laughed.
"No that was actually very insightful Ron thanks" Harry grinned, but inside his head was spinning. Could Draco ever give that all up for someone? For him? He dared himself to think.
- 0 -
The next two months of Autumn passed relatively peacefully. Draco had started receiving regular letters from his father, becoming more demanding that he should come home. Draco knew he couldn't. He would have been hurt at some level anyway which he couldn't risk, but now, with each passing week that he was ignoring his father's communication, he would have hell to pay.
He regularly spent weekends and some evenings at his new home, Pansy and Blaise coming round a lot too, and he avoided places like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade for fear of bumping into his father.
He had been getting on well with Potter, a little too well maybe, with each class and free period they spent together, he felt more and more drawn to the Gryffindor. It warmed his normally cold heart when he could make him smile and laugh, after their talk about Azkaban he had started to feel more at ease, more able to say when he disagreed with something or if he just wasn't feeling up to meeting for research, which sadly was becoming a little more often.
As the months passed he started losing his appetite and was feeling tired more quickly, his muscles spasmed one day trying to lift up a cauldron in Potions, much to his humiliation, and he had dropped it, causing him and Harry to have to remake a batch of skele-gro. He had been worried Potter would be angry with him but he had been nice about it, and not in a pitying way, he had joked it off, which Draco appreciated, though he noticed that Harry never let him carry the cauldron again.
He had also noticed that none of his practical assignments had coincided on the same day once since the Patronus fiasco, it was odd, and he was suspicious of his friends having had a hand in it, but whatever it was, it made his school life a lot easier.
The Phoenix Tear Plant had worked incredibly though, and their testing stages had gone perfectly, a skele-gro that grew back bones painlessly, and, they had found, advanced the speed and strength of regrowth. They wrote up their essays on it, working long into the evening.
It was long dark outside and Draco sat back yawning and stretching out his wrist, aching from writing for so long, but his essay was done. He looked at Potter who was staring blankly at his parchment, he had written around half of what Draco had. Draco looked around the common room, Blaise and Ron were playing exploding snap at the sofas in the common room and Pansy, Hermione and Daphne were sitting chatting around the boys.
"How do you write so quickly?" Harry asked Draco, staring at his essay in envy.
Draco shrugged "I guess I'm just interested in it, I find it easy to write about"
"Mine sounds rubbish" Harry sighed.
"What's wrong with it?" Draco asked.
"I just don't know how to write it all in a way that makes sense" he said, frowning.
"Well how do you write all your other essays?" Draco asked curiously.
"Uhhh, Hermione usually takes pity on me and Ron and writes them for us" he answered in embarrassment.
Draco raised his eyebrows "Wow" was all he said and Harry pulled a face.
"Well I'm not writing it for you Potter so you can get that idea out your head, but I can give you pointers" he said, then shrugged trying to act casual "I mean, only if you want me to"
"Yeah I would, I would like that" Harry smiled gratefully.
"Okay budge up" Draco said and slid round so he was sitting right beside Harry on the window seat, their legs touching. Draco felt himself blush a little, he hadn't meant to sit quite as close, but Harry didn't move away so he didn't either.
Draco read over what Harry had.
"This is sounding good" he said "but it would benefit from some structure. You should start each section clearly stating the topic of that section, so like here, here and here" he pointed at various points in the essay "you've made really accurate points about the complications that can come with a painful and slow bone regrowth but if you put that all into one section at the start and then went on to say why our solution tackled that, then it would make sound much stronger"
He was met with silence and looked up at Harry to see if he'd fallen asleep, but instead he was staring at him intensely and Draco hadn't realised quite how close they were sitting. For a second, time seemed to stand still as they locked eyes. Both boys glanced down at each others lips, leaning minutely forward...
SNAP!
The exploding snap went off in the Common Room, and both boys jumped back, coming to their senses.
Was I seriously just about to kiss Harry Potter in front of everyone?! Draco asked himself, shocked.
Did we nearly kiss? Harry asked himself at the same time. He definitely leaned in as well!
"Um, so do you see what I mean with your essay?" Draco asked a little shakily, pulling himself together.
"Yes, I do, that makes perfect sense" Harry said, trying to calm his heart down. He looked at Draco with genuine gratitude "That was really helpful, thank you Draco"
"You're welcome... Harry" Draco said lightly and Harry beamed in response.
- 0 -
Across the room, Hermione, Ron, Blaise and Pansy had all stopped when they saw Draco and Harry inching closer, unable to look away until Blaise quickly slapped his card down making it snap and causing the boys to bounce away from each other. Hermione didn't miss his sigh of relief and knew he was just doing his best to keep his best friend safe from the other Purebloods. Daphne had thankfully been too engrossed in her fashion magazine to notice.
They continued their game and chatting, and suddenly there was a tap at the window, they looked up and Draco let in an owl that held out it's leg, it was a letter for Pansy.
She took it from Draco and sat back on the sofa, opening it. She smiled as she read down the page.
"Ooooh is that your boyfriend?" Daphne teased, glancing at Blaise to see his reaction as she said it, nobody but Pansy missed his jaw clench slightly.
"Yes it is actually" Pansy smirked.
"What's he saying?" Daphne asked with mild interest.
"He's asking if I want to go on holiday with him over Christmas" Pansy said, smiling "He wants to take me to Finland"
"Oh like one of those places where you can sleep under the Northern Lights?" Daphne asked in awe.
"Yes, exactly like that"
"Just a holiday of laughing in the snow and warming each other up by the fire" Daphne continued dreamily, smirking to herself as she could tell Blaise was getting angrier the more he heard.
"He's also asked me to go over tonight to um, talk, about it, the holiday, so I'm just going to go" Pansy said, standing up. The others knew fine well that talking was not what they were planning to do, but bid her goodbye.
After a little while Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco all headed up to bed, Daphne and Blaise staying up. Draco looking at Blaise seriously and asking him quietly, away from everyone else if he knew what he was doing.
"Yeah I do" Blaise said, his face tightening a little "I need to stop waiting for someone who doesn't want me"
Draco sighed sadly but nodded, Blaise was right, he couldn't be expected to wait forever.
Later that night, Draco lay awake, thinking about his almost kiss with Potter, wondering what it would have felt like.
As he was lying awake he heard the door creep open and two voices whisper, he crept to the end of his bed to peak out of the curtain, he always had his bed silenced in case he had his night terrors.
Peaking out he saw Blaise and Daphne, they slipped into Blaise's bed together, Blaise settling between her legs, their mouths and bodies moving together.
"Let's get some privacy" he heard Daphne whisper and Blaise closed the curtains, he heard a murmur and a giggle before everything went silent. Blaise must have cast a silencing charm. After only a few seconds, the bed started to move, the curtains shaking a little, slow at first and then quite vigorously and Draco raised his eyebrows.
Good for you Blaise, he thought for his friend, as the bed gave one last shudder.
- 0 -
Draco pushed back his curtains in the morning, feeling quite well rested.
He sat on his bed and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them, he saw Potter opening his curtains, putting on his glasses and giving Draco a nod and a smile.
Ron and Theo were also waking up, pushing their curtains aside to get ready for the day. Before any of them could say a word though, they heard shifting and soft moaning in Blaise's bed, where the curtains were still drawn.
Nott's mouth dropped open and he mouthed 'Pansy?' at Draco, who shook his head and mouthed 'Daphne' back to him. Nott's shoulders dropped and he rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
"Uhh yes Blaise" they heard Daphne moan "I need you inside me, and try and last a little longer this time yeah?"
"It's just been a while" Blaise muttered back.
The boys around the bed all pulled varying faces of horrified amusement, trying not to laugh.
There was some more shifting and shuffling and then another moan, this time from Blaise, and then the bed started to move again, Daphne moaning, giving him instructions.
"Go harder! Oh god yes, right there, keep it going, right there! Oh fuck! Yes daddy. Make me cum!"
The bed started shaking harder, Blaise was moaning too and Daphne's pitch was getting higher as she let out animalistic noises, finishing on a "yes, yes, yes!" and Blaise swearing as he reached his own climax.
Harry and Ron went bright red, unable to move from shock.
These innocent Gryffindors, Draco thought, struggling not laugh. He turned to Theo who just gave a half shrug, smirking and they both started gathering their things to get ready for the day. Harry and Ron eventually moving as well.
They went down to breakfast and headed to their first class of the day, Blaise running and catching up with them on their way down the corridor, having missed breakfast.
Theo threw an arm around him "Hey daddy, you know silencing charms don't tend to last a full 8 hours right?" Theo smirked at Blaise, and he and Draco burst out laughing at Blaise's suddenly bright red, mortified expression.
"Hey it sounded like you did a good job" Draco said, still chuckling.
"Better than last night apparently" Theo smirked, causing Draco to laugh again.
"You are both dead to me" Blaise muttered as they got to the door of Transfiguration, where Pansy was waiting.
"What are you all laughing about?" Pansy asked suspiciously.
"Nothing" they all chorused and Pansy rolled her eyes.
- 0 -
Draco turned up to Potions and sat down beside Harry who had got there early and was sitting bouncing his leg.
"You seem restless" Draco commented.
"Just nervous about handing in the essay" Harry replied "I can't believe that's our project over" he said, trying to keep his sadness out of his voice. It had only hit him when he sat down that this would be his last class partnered with Draco, what if they drifted apart now that there was nothing keeping them talking.
Draco noticed he looked a little sad.
"Aww are you going to miss me Harry?" he asked, grinning at him, and Harry felt his heart increase at seeing him smile.
Outward though he just rolled his eyes playfully "You wish" he joked.
Draco chuckled then seriously, said "Your essay is brilliant, don't worry about it."
They had the rest of the lesson to have a final look over their essays and finish them off if needed, which Harry noticed quite a few students doing, rushing to scribble down a few paragraphs.
At the end of the class they handed their essays in. They would get the results on Wednesday.
After class that day, they were all sitting in the common room talking about their potions and how glad they were that the work was done, wondering what grades they would get. It would contribute massively to their overall grade at the end of the year so they needed to do well in it.
As they spoke, Daphne came in through the portrait hole and sat down straight onto Blaise's lap and giving him a very passionate kiss before pulling away and looking directly at Pansy who was sat beside Blaise, and whose jaw had dropped a little, seeing Daphne kissing Blaise.
"Um, what is this?" Pansy asked, doing her best not to sound accusatory.
"Um" Blaise struggled for words, going red and not meeting anyone's eyes.
"Oh we hooked up last night, or well" Daphne giggled "A couple of times wasn't it?" she murmured and kissed him again before turning back to Pansy "Oh that's right you were out with your boyfriend last night, how are the holiday plans going?" she asked innocently.
"They're fine" Pansy said shortly "Well I'm going to get changed before dinner" she said and stood up quickly, heading up to the dormitory.
Draco and the Gryffindor's all looked awkwardly at anywhere but Blaise and Daphne.
Pansy kept her distance all evening, going to the library after dinner and sitting in a different corner of the Common Room.
Sleeping that night was difficult in the girls dormitory as Daphne told Blaise to come to her bed instead.
As Blaise slid into her bed and started taking off his clothes except his boxers, Daphne picked up her wand and pretended to do a wordless silencing charm.
"Did you silence it?" Blaise whispered, when he was done.
"Yes"
"I didn't hear you do it?" He asked.
"I did a wordless charm, you happen to be sleeping with a very talented witch" she murmured, climbing atop his hips and giving him a long, slow kiss. She sat up and took off her school shirt and discarded it, leaving her in her black lace push-up bra, short school skirt, and black lace thong. She sat down onto his crotch and began to grind against him, moaning softly. It didn't take long for Blaise to get hard and she moaned again.
"I love feeling you get hard under me" she said seductively.
She moved down tugging off his boxers and dropping them, making sure to push them through the curtain on the side where Pansy would be in the bed next to her.
She slid off her school skirt and dropped her head, leaving her butt up in the air so Blaise could get a full view of her ass and lace thong. She heard his intake of breath and then a soft moan as she took his penis in her mouth, sucking slowly and deliberately. She sat back up and pulled off her thong, also dropping it through the curtain so Pansy wouldn't be able to miss it.
She moved up his body until she was straddling his cock again, grabbed it with one hand and slowly sat herself down on top of him. He let out a moan as he was enveloped in warm wetness and she began to rock back and forth, moving her hips slowly, running her hands up her body, squeezing her breasts and picking up Blaise's hands and getting him to cup her large breasts too, moaning throatily, really putting on a show.
"Oh Blaise your cock is incredible" she moaned tilting her head back.
"Oh fuck this feels so good" Blaise said, moaning and grabbing her hips, increasing the speed.
"My pussy is so wet for you" Daphne said, causing him to moan again, she loved the power of getting him so turned on.
She started moving faster, moaning and groaning and making sure the bed was rocking hard under her movements.
"Fuck, you're so fucking good at riding me" Blaise moaned, his panting getting louder as he neared climax.
"Blaise I'm so close" Daphne said, and she didn't know what was more of a turn on, fucking Blaise, or knowing that for once she had something that Pansy wanted.
"Me too!" Blaise groaned, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, his whole body tensed.
Daphne leaned back, reaching behind her and grabbing his balls, squeezing them frantically as she erratically rode his solid cock, hitting her g-spot again and again, moans increasing in pitch until with a guttural shout they both came, bodies arching and collapsing together in a final moan.
- 0 -
Pansy got up much earlier than normal for classes, not wanting any chance of bumping into Blaise and Daphne after last night's porn show. The first thing she saw was their underwear lying on the floor beside their bed and she swallowed hard, fighting back more tears. She looked in the bathroom mirror and her eyes were red and puffy from crying most of the night. Hermione walked in as she was there and smiled sympathetically at her.
"I didn't get much sleep either" she said, shaking her head, not mentioning the obvious tears. Pansy put on a glamour charm to cover her red rimmed eyes and blotchy face, and they made their way down to breakfast together, both yawning.
"They should at least put a silencing charm" Hermione was saying "It's supposed to be private, not for a room full of people to hear!"
"Yeah" was all Pansy said.
Hermione hesitated "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Pansy snapped and Hermione took the hint, backing off.
Pansy sighed, it wasn't her fault "Sorry Granger, I'm just..." she tried to find the words but couldn't "I don't know" she finally finished, sighing tiredly again.
Hermione nodded in understanding.
They sat down at their respective tables for breakfast. After a little while, Draco came down and sat beside Pansy, taking one look at her just staring at the table, not eating, and asking her what was wrong.
"Nothing" she said "Just didn't sleep much thanks to Blaise and Daphne's sexcapades" she tried to keep the shake out of her voice.
"They didn't even silence the bed?" He asked quizzically.
"She pretended to do a wordless spell" Pansy rolled her eyes.
"Wow" Draco said, eyebrows raising "she really wanted to get to you huh?" he said as he buttered a piece of toast and put it on Pansy's plate, before doing the same for himself.
"I have a boyfriend though" Pansy said, though inside she knew that made no difference, Blaise treated her like a queen, and she took that for granted.
Draco didn't even have to say that back to her, he just gave her a look, and she looked down at her plate sadly, taking a bite of toast and leaning her head against Draco's arm. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, giving her a small squeeze.
"If you get crumbs on my robes we're going to have problems" he joked lightly, making her smile despite everything.
Harry and Ron came down to breakfast, looking at Hermione's tired eyes and asked her if she was okay.
She filled them in on the events of the night, including Daphne faking a silencing charm, and Harry and Ron both pulled horrified faces.
"He loves Parkinson and Greengrass knows it" Ron rolled his eyes "I mean everyone can see that"
Hermione and Harry both nodded in agreement.
Draco sat beside Blaise in Charms later that day, raising his eyebrows at him questioningly.
"What's up?" Blaise asked.
"Did you know Daphne faked the silencing charm last night?" he asked bluntly.
Blaise went bright red "What are you talking about?"
"She faked the silencing charm before you two had sex, and threw your clothes out the bed for Pansy to see" Draco shook his head "She hasn't slept at all, nor did any of the others for that matter."
Blaise's mouth fell open "I - I didn't know, she said she could do wordless spells"
"Maybe she can, but she didn't"
"Ah shit"
"Do you like Daphne?" Draco asked curiously.
Blaise shrugged "I mean, yeah, I guess, and she is great in bed" he paused "I think it's maybe just some fun? I just need to move on, I don't think Pansy has a right to be upset, I've waited a long time for her. She has a boyfriend, why shouldn't I start a relationship too?"
Draco looked at him, it was a complicated situation "I get it Blaise, I agree you should move on, she's been stringing you along for a long time, but she cares for you as more than just a friend and shagging her best friend right next to her isn't the nicest for anyone"
Blaise nodded uncomfortably "Yeah I won't do that again"
That evening, Daphne was still trying to rub it in Pansy's face, sitting on Blaise's lap and kissing him passionately in the Common Room, making everyone uncomfortable, Blaise broke away and suggested they take it somewhere else, but Daphne shook her head and kept kissing him.
"Just ignore them" Hermione said to Pansy quietly, where they sat writing their Transfiguration essays together.
"It's pretty hard when they're such damn noisy kissers" Pansy muttered darkly, glancing over at them.
Daphne slid her hand up Blaise's shirt, "You have incredible abs Blaise" Daphne said, loud enough for Pansy to hear.
"Okay I'm done with this" Pansy said, shutting her books, rolling up her parchment and walking out.
Hermione sighed, looking over at Daphne and Blaise. Blaise had opened his eyes and watched as Pansy left the room, his eyes betraying the guilt he felt. Daphne on the other hand just smirked and pulled Blaise's face back to her and continued kissing him.
- 0 -
Wednesday came around and everyone headed into Potions class, both eager and nervous for Slughorn to hand out the grades for their potion adaptations and essays.
They started filing in, allowed now to sit with who they wanted they wanted as the teamwork Potion was over. Harry watched as Hermione and Ron sat together and he suddenly felt sad, undoubtedly Draco would sit with Blaise and Harry felt his heart sink, he had grown used to their Potions classes together, had looked forward to them even. He sighed and sat down in the seat in front of Ron and Hermione, turning and greeting them with as cheerful a face as he could. He could tell they didn't buy it though. He would just deal with whoever sat next to him.
After a minute someone pulled out the chair beside him and Harry glanced up, ready to pretend to be okay with it, but instead his jaw dropped and his eyes lit up. Draco sat gracefully down beside him.
"Um, hi?" Harry said, trying to stop himself from grinning like a lunatic "I thought you'd be sitting with your friends?"
"That's crazy Potter, everyone knows we've been the bestest of best friends forever" Draco said sarcastically, but he was smiling, and his eyes had a friendly glint.
"As if I'd not sit beside you as we get gifted our Outstanding grades, this was a team effort, and besides" Draco continued "I'm not dealing with either Blaise or Pansy right now" he said, trying not to come across too keen.
"You are very confident that we're getting O's" Harry said doubtfully.
"Of course we will, we did amazing"
"It was more you than me" Harry admitted "Like way more"
"Nonsense, we're a team" Draco said simply, then blushed a little, he sounded corny but he had become attached to their team, he didn't want it to end.
Harry's heart skipped at that and he smiled.
"What's going on with Blaise and Pansy? It's wildly uncomfortable in the Common Room these days. It reminds me of when Ron was going out with Lavender" Harry whispered so Ron and Hermione wouldn't hear behind him.
"Yeah, it never seems right seeing either of them with anyone but each other. Blaise is madly in love with her but she just never goes for it" Draco said sadly "I just wish they would get together already"
Draco glanced over his shoulder and noticed Pansy hadn't turned up to class at all. He pulled a questioning face at Blaise who had an empty seat beside him and was also looking around for her, but he just shook his head, looking confused and guilty.
Slughorn entered the room at that moment and greeted the class, getting them all to settle down. He grabbed the pile of essays from his desk.
"Okay everyone, I've taken both your potion and your essay into consideration and have averaged out your grade, that is what will be written on your essay" he called to them all.
He started handing them out, the entire class seeming to hold their breath and noise beginning to escalate as more and more students got their results. Some noises were excited, some disappointed.
Harry couldn't stop bouncing his leg, eager to see what they got. Slughorn placed both Draco and Harry's down in front of them.
"Great work boys!" he exclaimed.
Right there on the parchment in front of them were two big "O"'s.
"Oh my god we actually did it!" Harry exclaimed excitedly, and without thinking threw an arm around Draco in a friendly hug, the sort of thing he would do with Ron, but this wasn't Ron, this was Draco Malfoy and Harry had just hugged him, in the middle of class, right in front of Ron and Hermione. Thankfully most of the class were too involved in their own grades but Harry quickly snapped his arm back to his side, blushing furiously and gaping.
Draco had froze for a second, shocked at the friendly, public gesture, and he wanted to stay under that arm and snuggle in... but Harry took it back going bright red and Draco fought to control himself "Of course we did! I told you so didn't I?" was all said, and couldn't help the beaming smile on his face, a mix of the hug and the grade, though Harry could see a slight amount of relief in his eyes, knowing that he'd have to do something incredibly wrong now to fail this class. Harry hoped it took a little of the stress off him.
- 0 -
Pansy returned that evening after dinner and sat down beside Draco in the Common Room. As usual Blaise was liplocked with Daphne.
"Hey" Draco said softly "Where have you been? We missed you today"
"If by 'we' you mean you and Blaise then that's a lie, he hasn't seen past the lips glued to his face in days now" Pansy said darkly. Draco noticed too that her eyes were a little puffy, as if she'd been crying.
"He has so, he's been looking around like he's lost all day" Draco smiled slightly at her.
She didn't reply, just leaning back against the sofa and looking down at her hands on her legs.
"Hey" Draco said gently, "Are you okay?"
Pansy's face crumpled a little, her lower lip trembling. "Cole and I broke up" she said, a tear dropping from her eye.
"Shit Pans, I'm sorry" Draco wrapped an arm round her, pulling her in as she started to cry.
She turned her face into his jumper as a few people glanced over at her, including Blaise and Daphne.
Blaise pushed away from Daphne, earning an annoyed expression from her and walked over to the sofa, squatting down in front of Pansy.
"Pansy, what's wrong?" Blaise asked her softly, putting a hand on her knee.
"Yeah Pans, what's happened?" Daphne joined in, sitting on Pansy's other side and hugging into her.
"Cole and I - we - we broke up" Pansy choked out through her tears.
Daphne pulled back a little, her eyes narrowing suspiciously "Oh really?" she said, trying to feign sadness for her friend "what happened?"
Pansy just shrugged, wiping her face with her sleeve.
"Pansy I'm so sorry" Blaise said honestly, looking conflicted.
Daphne glared at him, taking his hand that was on Pansy's knee and intertwining it with her own in a territorial way.
"Come on Blaise we should give her some space" she said standing up "the last thing she'll want is to be around another couple"
Blaise looked at Draco who gave him a raised eyebrow and an eye roll to show he thought Daphne was full of shit. Blaise grimaced but as Pansy turned her face back into Draco's chest he stood up, following Daphne up to the boys dorms.
Draco looked up to see the Golden Trio watching them. He locked eyes with Harry who gave a small concerned nod in Pansy's direction and Draco gave him an odd little shrug and nod. He turned to Pansy.
"We can stay at mine tonight if you want?" he asked quietly.
Pansy sat up and wiped her eyes, giving Draco a watery smile and nodded "I would love that" she said with relief and they both headed out the portrait hole.
As they flooed into Draco's home, Pansy flopped down on the sofa.
"What happened with Cole?" Draco asked her, sitting on the chair opposite her.
"I went over to his house, all upset about Blaise and Daphne, and he just started having a go at me, saying that I was too attached to Blaise and the only reason it would upset me is if I had feelings for him, then everything just escalated from there" she said, frowning.
Draco paused. "He has a point" he admitted.
Pansy sighed and was silent for a minute before speaking again. "I've really fucked it with Blaise haven't I?" she said sadly.
"He loves you Pansy" Draco said honestly "But he knows he can't wait around for you forever"
"I just don't want to ruin everything, I love the way we are with each other, what if it destroys that and we break up and we can never get that back?" she asked desperately.
"Yeah, that could happen" Draco said and Pansy's lip trembled again "Or" he continued "It could be the best thing that ever happened to both of you, and you get married and have children or do whatever it is you both want and live happily ever after"
"You think so?" she asked hopefully.
"He doesn't love Daphne, hell he barely even likes her, he's just doing what he thinks he needs to in order to get over you" Draco gave her a pointed look "You on the other hand he loves, and respects, and you get on brilliantly even without the romance, you can still have that if you're in a relationship with him"
"I just don't know"
Draco paused for a second.
"If you were told right now that the world would end in one year, would you regret not having gone for it sooner?" he asked her, looking at her seriously.
Pansy looked at him shocked "That's so morbid"
"But would you?"
Pansy looked at him for a second then nodded. "Yes I'd regret it"
"Well then, I think you've got your answer"
- 0 -
Meanwhile, in the Common Room, Harry was getting interrogated by Ron and Hermione.
"So explain yourself" Ron demanded.
"Explain what?" Harry asked, baffled.
"Oh I don't know, the fact that you hugged Malfoy in Potions today?"
Harry went bright red. "It was a mistake" he muttered.
"Was it?" Hermione asked, with a twitch of her lips.
"Yes!" Harry exclaimed defensively "I just did what I would do if me and Ron got O's in Potions, I didn't think!"
"I wish I'd got an O like you and Hermione did" Ron said wistfully "we got E's though, I'm pretty chuffed with that"
"But back to the point" Ron said snapping out of this thoughts "we saw you the other day as well you know, you almost started snogging over your essays" Ron snorted.
Harry's mouth dropped open "What - no we - snogging? Are you mad - no way - we didn't - no" he spluttered.
"It's true Harry" Hermione smirked, "if it wasn't for Zabini exploding his card you two would probably have kissed in front of everyone"
"He did that on purpose?" Harry asked, slightly annoyed.
Ron snorted "Yeah for Malfoy's own good, remember?" and Harry remembered the conversation they had about Purebloods and being gay and Harry's heart sank "I mean unless Lucius is cool with that sort of thing but I can't see it somehow!" Ron laughed, until Hermione elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
"It's not funny Ron!" she snapped "That's horrible for both Harry and Draco!"
"You could keep it a secret?" Ron suggested.
"That didn't end well for him last time" Harry said, deep in his thoughts and not realising what he just said, he suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth as Hermione and Ron gaped at him "Oh my god no, I didn't say that, you didn't hear that, shit it was meant to be a secret!"
"Harry relax!" Hermione said, putting a hand on his knee "We're not going to tell anybody, are we Ron?"
Harry looked at Ron, feeling worried, Ron hated Malfoy. But his best friend shook his head.
"Listen, I'm not saying I'm in love with the idea of you two getting together" he pulled a face "But I would never do anything to hurt you like that, and besides I hate Lucius way more that I hate Draco. And he has helped Hermione with S.P.E.W, and Neville with Herbology so..." he sighed and shrugged, at a loss for words.
"Thanks Ron, and you Hermione, for being so supportive all the time" Harry said gratefully, but then sighed "It doesn't really matter though since he's not allowed to be with a man. He'll still end up marrying a pureblood witch and having a baby" Harry said sadly.
"I just can't imagine Lucius or Narcissa doing that to him though" Hermione said "Maybe they'd be okay with it? I mean really, if anything, you would surely be good for their reputation Harry" she said thoughtfully.
"Can I tell you guys something?" Harry asked "And you can't tell a soul?"
They both nodded curiously.
He told them about the conversation he overheard between the three Slytherin's where Blaise mentioned Lucius being abusive, and would not stop at anything to keep Draco in his lane.
"I'm worried that maybe I've been missing something, domestic abuse that I've never noticed? And the way they were at the Ministry party, it just gave me a bad feeling. What if he found out about us, not that there is an us, and he hurt him?" Harry asked worriedly "He seems to be getting away from Lucius this year, I don't want to ruin it"
Ron and Hermione both looked taken aback.
"I mean I know he's a strict parent" Ron said slowly "And Pureblood traditions and all that... But family is literally the one thing that matters to them. Well, and gold"
"I don't know Harry" Hermione said as well "You said Narcissa lied to Voldemort to save her son, she would surely stand up to Lucius if that was going on?"
"Maybe he just said 'abusive' as in 'violent'?" Ron suggested "Like a violent death eater and not a domestic abusive father?"
"Maybe" Harry said doubtfully "But it just feels like Draco's breaking away from him this year and he's changed so much"
"His whole life has changed since the war though, maybe it's just been a wake up call, shown him what's important?" Hermione said.
"Have you asked him about it?" Ron asked.
"I've brought things up a few times, subtly" Harry said, shaking his head "But apart from when he was already angry with me and snapped at me, he's been really, I don't know, casual about the whole thing. He didn't seem too bothered"
"Well maybe that's it then, maybe it's fine?" Hermione said, smiling sympathetically at Harry. "I know it would be great to get Lucius out the picture but -"
"That's not what this is!" Harry exclaimed.
"Listen" Ron said diplomatically "I don't think it's true, I don't think Lucius would, even though he is the worst and belongs in Azkaban, but" he continued "You, Blaise and Parkinson know him better than us, so if you think there's something there then I don't think you should ignore it, but it's a sensitive subject, one he might not want to talk about"
There was a silence.
"You really are maturing" Hermione said affectionately.