Title: Idioteque (2/?)

Author: Jendle

E-mail: jenny.preston@virgin.net

Disclaimers: Not mine, JKR's, except for the title which is also the title of a song by the god-like geniuses Radiohead. Don't sue me cos my life saving are down to 47p now and I still have Christmas pressie to buy (eek)

Spoilers: Don't think so...not yet, anyway.

Date: 12/11/01

Summary: Draco is staring at Harry, who is staring at Seamus

Warnings: Slash. If you don't like, don't read.

Archive: Yes to the HPSlash archive, anywhere else just ask.

Notes: This is my response to a challenge, which went thusly: 'Draco threw back his head, laughing insanely until he realized the whole class was staring at him and sat down, blushing wildly.' And I have no idea where I found it, so please don't ask...

Oh, and for Fanfiction.net readers, the bit at the beginning here is repeated cos it wasn't meant to be part of part 1 (does that make sense?).

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Pansy threw herself onto a sofa in the Slytherin common room and pouted at Draco. Gods, did she think she was being seductive? Draco held back a shudder at the thought and just looked at her coolly.

"Draaaco," she whined, "why are you always sulking all the time? I'm bored."

"Go and be bored at Blaise, then," he told her. "I'm going to the library."

"Why?"

To get away from you. "Herbology essay. I can't afford any more crap marks."

Pansy raised her eyebrows. "You're worried about Herbology?"

"A bad grade at Christmas is a bad grade at Christmas, Pansy. You know my father," he said, truthfully.

"I'll come too," she said.

"No, you won't. I told you: go and be bored at Blaise," he said, trying not to sound too hasty.

He grabbed his books and was out of the common room before she could say anything else. It was becoming more and more difficult to avoid throttling her these days.

He had no intention of going to the library - chances were Pansy would get bored again and go looking for him there. Instead, he dumped his bag in a convenient hideyhole behind a statue of Rupert the Mage - boring looking bastard, he was - and headed for the Quidditch pitch.

Just his luck - it was Gryffindor's practice time, and there was Harry zooming around above everyone else looking unbelievably sexy on his broomstick. Draco had to jump on his mind several times to make it shut up about metaphors and left quickly before someone could accuse him of spying for Slytherin.

Maybe he should go to the library after all. Reluctantly, he collected his bag and headed in that direction. Bored as he was, he deliberately took a more roundabout route in the hope that he would see something more interesting on the way.

Luck was on his side. The Weasley twins, looking particuarly secretive about something, were standing by a statue of Chrestomanci (what kind of name was that, anyway?) whispering and oblivious to his presence. Draco quietly put down his bag and stood silently by the corner to watch.

"Try tickling his feet," one of them said, and evidently they did, because the next thing Draco heard was a politely reproachful voice saying "My dear sirs, was that really neccessary?" and a grinding crunch that was the statue moving.

Draco risked a peep around the corner and saw the Weasley twins retreating into a hole in the wall. That was interesting...he'd have to follow, but some other time when they weren't likely to turn around and walk into him.

This discovery made the Herbology essay slightly easier to cope with, hideously boring as it was. It also made the fact that Potter sat in his direct view at dinner that evening slightly easier, giving him something else to think about other than the Boy who Lived.

*

The Boy who Lived was at that very same meal glad he had a Quidditch match to think about, as Seamus had just sat down opposite him and was talking to his possible girlfriend Lavender Brown - no one was totally sure about Seamus and Lavender.

Harry looked up at Seamus, and ended up looking at Malfoy, who was regarding him with a strange expression. He tried half-heartedly to return a glare, but couldn't quite manage the act, thinking about the strange expression.

"S'up?" Ron asked, following the direction of Harry's unsuccessful look. "Oh, Malfoy. What's he playing at?"

"Dunno," Harry replied, shrugging. Eyeing me up. Oh, shut up and stop being so bloody pathetic.

Not thinking about Malfoy was starting to verge on the impossible these days, Harry realised unhappily. It had been bad enough with Cho Chang, who now seemed to be avoiding him after last year's unpleasant events, but when the obsession was ten times as strong, and for your supposed worst enemy rather than just a Ravenclaw Seeker, it was worse. And someone as prominent in your life as your worst enemy wasn't easy to forget about.

This wasn't the first time he'd caught an odd look of something other than contempt and a hint of jealousy from Malfoy, though. It had been happening quite often, recently, and Harry's over-obsessed mind was starting to consider possibilities that Malfoy felt the same way as Harry did. Bollocks, the rational part of his mind told him. Where were you when this thing started? the rest of him asked.

Harry shook his head violently. Having arguments in his head...he must be going mad like most of the school had expected him to be at the beginning of September.

*

"Will everyone please SHUT UP!" Seamus yelled at his roommates. Harry, lying back on his bed with his head pillowed by his hands, rolled his eyes at Seamus's typical demand for attention.

"Thank you," he said, smiling a smile at the room in general that did strange things to Harry's insides. "I've got something to tell you all."

"You're engaged to Lavendar," Ron suggested.

"No," Seamus said. "I'm not, because I'm not interested in girls. Not that way, anyway."

Harry sat up in surprise. Now or never, his brain told him. "Me too," he said.

Heads swung to look at both of them sitting on beds on opposite sides of the room. Eyebrows were raised. Harry found himself holding his breath. And then Ron shrugged.

"That's nice for you," he said, with the air of someone heard confessions like this every day, and restarted his argument with Dean about the merits of Quidditch over football - Harry was surprised they hadn't just agreed to disagree, after four and a half years of it. Dean looked nonplussed for a second, then replied to Ron's comment about only having one goal with a fierce explanation of why this was a good thing. Neville shrugged and stuck his head back under his bed looking for Trevor.

Harry breathed again, and looked over at Seamus, who was staring at him in disbelief.

Seamus got up and walked over to Harry's bed. "You are? Anyone in particular?"

Harry nodded. "Um...er...um..." he said eloquently, and to his dismay realised he was blushing wildly.

Without warning Seamus leaned forward and kissed him. Harry, with only a slight tinge of there being something missing, kissed back.

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