'Leave me alone.' Potter said in a voice that didn't allow room for question. The kind of voice that would make some want to kneel at his feet. Draco nearly did just that. His knees were bending when Potter turned his back to him and stomped off.
Giving Draco a beautiful view of his perfect arse.
'Draco!' Blaise snapped his fingers in front of Draco's face, pulling him out of his memory.
'What?' Draco snapped.
'Are you coming down to breakfast with us?' Blaise asked, unperturbed by Draco's tone. He was used to Draco's moods by now. Draco scowled but nodded. He would much rather stay alone in the common room. Or better yet, go back to the Prefect's bathroom.
Draco shrugged into his robe and followed the other Slytherin boys to the Great Hall. Somewhere along the way, Pansy joined their little group and attached herself to Draco's arm. He shook her off and directed him towards Blaise, who directed her towards Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy had come to terms with the fact that Draco wouldn't date her, but she had long ago figured out the Slytherin group of power. She was safe and protected if she spent time with these boys. It was just a bonus that it made her parents happy that she was in "good company."
As he walked to the Slytherin table Draco made a conscious effort not to look in the direction of the Gryffindor table. Since Halloween, he had been forcing himself through the same painstaking routine.
Dream of the day before Halloween.
Wake up painfully hard.
Have a cold shower.
Or ask Blaise for help, if he was awake.
Go to breakfast and not look at the Gryffindor table for a mop of messy black hair.
Attend morning classes. Become fully engaged in lessons.
Go to lunch and not look at the Gryffindor table to see if a certain pair of green eyes would meet his.
Attend afternoon classes. Try not to think about those green eyes.
Go to dinner. Definitely not look at the Gryffindor table to see if that lithe Seeker's body was facing him.
Revise and study before bed.
Repeat.
Christmas break had been hell, with no classes to serve as a daily distraction.
Blaise had noticed Draco's odd behaviour, but he had been the only Slytherin to notice so far. Or at least the only Slytherin to notice and say something to Draco's face.
Blaise had visited over the Christmas break and corned Draco when he went for a shower. Blaise had followed him into the bathroom and demanded answers.
'What's going on with you?' he'd demanded. Draco had already taken his shirt off and Blaise did the same, keeping them on equal ground.
'I'm not allowed to shower now?' Draco had asked, gesturing with a lazy flick of his wrist for Blaise to leave. But Blaise had stood his ground and crossed his arms.
'Draco, we've dated on and off long enough now for me to know when something's off. Tell me what's going on.' he demanded, trying hard to keep his eyes off Draco's body.
But Draco hadn't answered. He didn't want to answer. But he had noticed Blaise's flickering eyes and knew how to change the subject. Slowly, purposefully, he took off his pants and boxers, not taking his eyes off Blaise's.
Will I ever do this in front of green eyes?
The thought had him instantly hard. He had knelt in front of Blaise, licking his lips, their eyes still locked.
'Please.' Draco had whispered. He had known it would work; it always worked on Blaise. That one word was all it took for Blaise to close the gap between them.
For the first time in their on-again, off-again relationship, Draco hadn't been fully present with Blaise when they fucked. He couldn't help making comparisons; he couldn't help wishing the hands gripping his hair were Seeker's hands, or that the eyes he was looking into were green.
Afterwards, Draco had broken up with Blaise, who hadn't been surprised, just told Draco to figure out how to fix whatever was bugging him.
Draco had returned to Hogwarts with no idea how he was going to do just that.
A movement across the Great Hall caught his eye, and he looked over. Potter was waving goodbye to his girlfriend and leaving. Just before he exited, his eyes scanned the Slytherin table and met Draco's.
Draco felt his mouth fall open. Potter had just winked at him.
Draco trudged to Potions in second period. He had stayed rooted to his seat in the Great Hall for the entire first period, his heart thudding in his chest.
Potter winked at me!
He lined up outside with the rest of the class, trying to keep his face a mask of indifference, but couldn't help his frown when Slughorn let them into the classroom and Potter hadn't shown yet.
Slughorn wasn't Draco's favourite teacher, but he couldn't complain since Slughorn was passing him. It still irked him that the old Potions Professor hadn't wanted him to become part of his stupid little Slug Club. He tried not to think about it too much.
Slughorn introduced the potion for the day, a complex potion that would take them the duration of their double-length lesson. Draco doodled on a scrap piece of parchment and missed half of the Professor's lecture; Granger answered all Slughorn's questions for the class anyway. But Draco tuned back in when Slughorn announced that they were to be working in pairs. And that Slughorn had already picked their partners for them. How old did Slughorn think they were, picking their partners for them like that?
As Slughorn announced the pairs, Draco immediately saw what the Professor had done. He had purposefully paired each student up with another student who would be considered their opposite, or students whose skills would complement each other's if they worked together.
'Harry, m'boy!' Slughorn announced, and Draco started, surprised to see Potter in his usual seat at the back of the classroom. Had he come in late? How had Draco missed that?
'You'll be working with Mister Malfoy today.' Slughorn announced, winking at a now frozen Draco.
'What?' Draco said indignantly. 'Pair me up with Potter?' he sneered.
'Yes.' Slughorn frowned in disappointment. 'Or you can have detention for a month.'
Draco scowled, hiding his excited nervousness. He threw his things into his bag and, as gracefully as he could, moved to the back of the classroom to sit next to Potter. His mouth suddenly felt dry when he noticed that Weasel and the Mudblood had moved towards the front of the class, so he and Potter had no other students near their station.
'You may begin!' Slughorn announced to the class once they were settled, waving his wand over the blackboard so that the instructions appeared there.
'Right,' Draco said, immediately focussed, and started working on the potion. He refused to allow himself to even look in Potter's direction. Draco told Potter what to do, and he did everything Draco asked him to without speaking or arguing.
A few times during the lesson, Potter's hand would graze along the back of Draco's, sending shivers up his arm. Every time this happened Draco bit his lower lip so he could ignore Potter's hand and focus on the potion. Draco had no idea what he was making, only allowing himself to focus on the instructions and not on the Gryffindor next to him. With ten minutes left of the lesson, the potion needed to be stirred continuously for five minutes, and then they would have five minutes to bottle it and clear their station.
Draco was stirring and staring intently into the potion's depths, when he became acutely aware of Potter standing far too close to him. He tilted his head so he could see him but not take his eyes off the potion. His breath caught in his throat.
Potter's eyes were intent on the cauldron with an interested look on his lovely face and he had one hand holding open his potion's textbook with one long finger under the paragraph they were up to. Draco licked his lips, his eyes hungrily fixed on Potters deliciously long finger, imagining all the places other than a textbook page he would like to see it.
Draco jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Potter's. Their eyes met and Draco wanted to melt into a puddle.
Oh, Merlin. Take me here and now, Potter.
'We can bottle it up now, right?' Potter murmured, gesturing to the potion in the cauldron with the hand that had been on the textbook. Draco nodded and turned, painfully aware of Potter's hand that had moved from his shoulder and was travelling lightly down his spine. It stopped to rest on Draco's lower back, causing Draco's stomach to knot. It took all his willpower to steady his hands so he wouldn't spill the potion … or fall to his knees at Potter's feet.
'I'll take it.' Potter said, reaching across Draco to pick up the beaker Draco had just sealed. Potter's chest lightly brushed against Draco's arm, and Draco became suddenly aware that at some point during the lesson Potter had taken off his robe and school jumper and had the sleeves of his white button-up shirt rolled to his elbows. Draco tidied the workstation while Harry took their potion to hand in to Slughorn and spoke to him quietly. Slughorn gave Draco a huge smile before announcing to the class;
'Once you have handed in your labelled potions, you may go. Harry and Mister Malfoy, if you would stay behind, please.'
Draco stood at the back table in confusion.
What had happened? Why were they staying behind?
It didn't make sense. Was Potter angry that Draco had barely spoken to him? Had he found a way to get him in trouble with Slughorn?
After the class had filed out, Slughorn beamed at the pair of them.
'You have until the end of lunch period, m'boy. Don't go making a mess!' he said, and he too left the classroom.
