Wyv: Thanks for reviews go here for the wonderful: Cat Samwise, SophieB and Ema Lee. We love you guys!
Bel: My, we have been busy little bees lately, haven't we?
Lan: And there's more to come... if you ask nicely, that is :)
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A week later, and Draco had been dragged off shopping in Hogsmeade by Elliott. Dean was working, Harry was training, Seamus was...well, who knows what Seamus was up to, and Draco, who had planned to relax, enjoy the sunshine while they still had it and probably go down the pool later, was extremely annoyed at having his plans interrupted.
While he usually loved shopping, no matter who he was with, he felt strangely nervous around Elliott. This was probably because the last time they had spent time alone they'd had their tongues down each others throats, and Draco was worried in case Elliott took it into his head to pounce on him. While Draco wasn't averse to being pounced on by strange, attractive young men, he usually preferred to have Harry on hand to hide behind in case they got a bit pushy. And while Elliott hadn't made any sort of move on Draco in the last week, Draco couldn't shake the feeling that Elliott fancied him.
After a while, Elliott became annoyed with Draco's constant fidgeting and steered him to a place in the park where they could talk.
"Why are you so nervous?" asked Elliott.
"Me? I'm not nervous!" said Draco a little too quickly.
"Liar."
"Okay, I'm nervous."
"Well, don't worry, I'm not going to pounce on you, Seamus is enough for any man!"
"He's enough for a whole regiment, I should think," laughed Draco, feeling more relaxed now. Elliott grinned.
"Yeah, that's true, I always thought I had a lot of energy but he's always got so much more than me! Where does he get it from?" Draco shrugged.
"It's probably an Irish thing," he mumbled, searching in his bag for something.
"Damn, forgot my sunglasses!" he muttered. "How can I look sophisticated and sexy without my sunglasses!"
"Well, you look pretty sophisticated from here," said Elliott. "Although try not to screw your eyes up, that spoils the effect somewhat. And as for sexy, well, 'sexy' and 'Draco Malfoy' are synonymous, so I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. Or is it Draco Potter now?"
"It's Potter." Draco grinned and stretched out on the grass.
"How do you know Seamus then?" asked Draco after a moment.
"I'm an apprentice Quidditch commentator, I was working under Seamus for a month. But we only got together a couple of weeks ago, remember, the Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland friendly? Some Irish nutter broke a bottle on his head and threatened me with it, and Seamus rescued me."
"Seamus rescued you?"
"Yeah, apparently that nutter was an old friend of his."
"Ah. He's got a lot of 'old friends'."
They sat in silence for a moment, Draco almost falling asleep, and Elliott made a couple of daisy-chains, which he placed as a wreath on Draco's head. Suddenly the silence was shattered by a high-pitched voice squealing "DRACOOOOO!"
Draco sat up with a start.
"Oh, no," he groaned, as a tiny witch wearing crimson robes made her way over to them. "That's Vicky," he added in an undertone to Elliott. "She does the gossip column at the Daily Prophet. She's so annoying, she'll do anything for a bit of gossip, makes a lot of it up herself...Hello, you!" Draco was pulled into a bear-hug by Vicky, who was surprisingly strong given her size.
"Hiya, Drac, enjoying your day off? I'm working at the moment, on the lookout for Hagrid, I've heard a bit of gossip and I want to see if there's anything worth while submitting for the later edition of the Prophet. Ooh, who's this?" Vicky had just noticed Elliott. "Not cheating on Harry, are we?"
"Don't be stupid, you know me," said Draco, but Vicky ignored him and was chatting to Elliott. Basic stuff, like if he was single (the first question she asked any man), about his sexuality (the second), his name, his whole life story. Honestly, thought Draco, she's worse than Rita Skeeter, if that was possible. He looked around for someone to help him get Elliott away from Vicky and he spotted Tim, one of the Chasers on the Hogsmeade team. He wandered over to where Tim was rolling something that Draco wasn't entirely sure was legal.
"So, how do you know Draco?" Vicky was asking.
"Er, well, I first met him in Brighton..."
"Elliott!" called Tim, walking over with Draco to where they were sat. "Harry gave me a message, you and Draco are to meet him back at the flat and go on to Sirius's."
"Oh, er, thanks," said Elliott, trying to keep the relief from showing on his face.
"Oh, by the way, Draco, Seamus turned up just before training finished looking for you two, he demanded to know where you'd hidden his boyfriend."
"He never does think of looking in the shops, does he? Thanks, Tim. See you tomorrow, Vick!" Tim wandered off and Draco and Elliott Disapparated.
"I'm really sorry, Elliott, I should have warned you about her before... you didn't tell her anything too personal, did you?" demanded Draco as they appeared back at the flat. They were immediately pounced on by Thor, who jumped up into Draco's arms and started licking his face.
"Er, well, I told her I was seeing Seamus..."
"As long as she doesn't jump to conclusions and assume we've got something going on, we'll be all right," said Draco, looking worried. He groaned. "I hope she doesn't make something on the 'where have you hidden Seamus's boyfriend' thing, Tim really doesn't know when to shut up... he's a lovely bloke, just a bit dim. Fancy something to eat?"
"Yeah, pasta if you've got any." Draco served up lunch and they decided to watch daytime chat shows on the Wizarding Network while they ate. Wizard chat shows were a lot more interesting that Muggle ones, as the participants were more likely to hex each other than chat.
Suddenly the door slammed, causing Thor to bark madly and Draco to jump and spill bolognaise sauce all down his front. He looked at Harry in mock-indignation.
"Harry! You know this stuff is a total bugger to get out of velvet!" he joked, falling silent as he saw the expression on Harry's face. Cold fury was showing in every line of his face.
"Draco, what the hell is going on?" Harry demanded.
"What? I'm eating lunch and watching chat shows," replied Draco cautiously, putting down his pasta and picking up a mug of tea. Harry advanced on Draco, who shrank back into the couch.
"Idiot! I'm talking about you and him!" Harry gestured towards Elliott.
"Harry, calm down, there's nothing going on between me and Harry," said Elliott.
"I wasn't asking you!" shouted Harry. "Well, Draco?"
"Like Elliott said, there is absolutely nothing going on." Draco could tell from Harry's expression that he didn't believe him. "What? You want to use Veritaserum on me? Listen. There. Is. Nothing. Going. On! Even if I did fancy him - which I don't - I wouldn't do anything about it. I love you."
"Explain this then!" snarled Harry, throwing a newspaper article at Draco and sitting down in the armchair opposite him, where Thor bounced into his lap.
"What a bitch!" exclaimed Draco moments later, after he'd read the article, which was titled 'Potter marriage on the rocks?'. "Listen, Elliott... 'Potter marriage may be over before it has even begun'... 'Malfoy spotted in the company of a very attractive man'... look, she's even said that the fact you made me a daisy chain was proof of our 'burning sexual attraction for each other'!" Draco screamed. "I hate her! She should not be allowed to talk to people! Ever!"
"Draco? What's wrong?" asked Harry, eyeing Draco warily, uncomfortably aware that Draco had a mug of boiling hot tea in his hand, that he was waving about.
"Did you see who the article was written by?" asked Draco. Harry shook his head and Draco threw it back over the room to him.
"Vicky Rodgers? Oh, I see now! I'm sorry, Drac!"
"So you should be," pouted Draco.
"Oh no, he's doing the Passive-Aggressive Sulk!" announced Elliott theatrically, and they all laughed.
"Hi guys!" announced a voice behind them and they turned to look at the fire. Seamus's head was floating in the flames. He looked terrified, which was a previously unexplored emotion in Finnigan psyche. "Is Elliott with you?"
"I'm here, Seamus," announced Elliott, moving to the fire.
"Ah, good. Look, me mam's just arrived. She wants to meet you." Elliott giggled.
"That sounds like fun! I'll be over in a sec."
"Oh, and Harry? Next time don't let your husband wander off with my boyfriend without letting me know where they're going!" Seamus grinned.
"It would help if you didn't just wander off yourself!" replied Draco.
"Is that Harry Potter you're talking to?" a woman's voice came from behind Seamus. "Well, invite him over, and that husband of his if he's there!" Seamus turned bright red.
"Okay, mam. Well, you heard the lady, get your arses over here!" Seamus's head disappeared suddenly and they heard a thwacking sound as it went, a sound not unlike an enraged mother hitting an unruly son over the head with a rolling pin.
Draco laughed as he reached for Harry's hand.
"This promises to be fun," he said, as they all Apparated to Seamus's.
Bel: My, we have been busy little bees lately, haven't we?
Lan: And there's more to come... if you ask nicely, that is :)
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A week later, and Draco had been dragged off shopping in Hogsmeade by Elliott. Dean was working, Harry was training, Seamus was...well, who knows what Seamus was up to, and Draco, who had planned to relax, enjoy the sunshine while they still had it and probably go down the pool later, was extremely annoyed at having his plans interrupted.
While he usually loved shopping, no matter who he was with, he felt strangely nervous around Elliott. This was probably because the last time they had spent time alone they'd had their tongues down each others throats, and Draco was worried in case Elliott took it into his head to pounce on him. While Draco wasn't averse to being pounced on by strange, attractive young men, he usually preferred to have Harry on hand to hide behind in case they got a bit pushy. And while Elliott hadn't made any sort of move on Draco in the last week, Draco couldn't shake the feeling that Elliott fancied him.
After a while, Elliott became annoyed with Draco's constant fidgeting and steered him to a place in the park where they could talk.
"Why are you so nervous?" asked Elliott.
"Me? I'm not nervous!" said Draco a little too quickly.
"Liar."
"Okay, I'm nervous."
"Well, don't worry, I'm not going to pounce on you, Seamus is enough for any man!"
"He's enough for a whole regiment, I should think," laughed Draco, feeling more relaxed now. Elliott grinned.
"Yeah, that's true, I always thought I had a lot of energy but he's always got so much more than me! Where does he get it from?" Draco shrugged.
"It's probably an Irish thing," he mumbled, searching in his bag for something.
"Damn, forgot my sunglasses!" he muttered. "How can I look sophisticated and sexy without my sunglasses!"
"Well, you look pretty sophisticated from here," said Elliott. "Although try not to screw your eyes up, that spoils the effect somewhat. And as for sexy, well, 'sexy' and 'Draco Malfoy' are synonymous, so I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. Or is it Draco Potter now?"
"It's Potter." Draco grinned and stretched out on the grass.
"How do you know Seamus then?" asked Draco after a moment.
"I'm an apprentice Quidditch commentator, I was working under Seamus for a month. But we only got together a couple of weeks ago, remember, the Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland friendly? Some Irish nutter broke a bottle on his head and threatened me with it, and Seamus rescued me."
"Seamus rescued you?"
"Yeah, apparently that nutter was an old friend of his."
"Ah. He's got a lot of 'old friends'."
They sat in silence for a moment, Draco almost falling asleep, and Elliott made a couple of daisy-chains, which he placed as a wreath on Draco's head. Suddenly the silence was shattered by a high-pitched voice squealing "DRACOOOOO!"
Draco sat up with a start.
"Oh, no," he groaned, as a tiny witch wearing crimson robes made her way over to them. "That's Vicky," he added in an undertone to Elliott. "She does the gossip column at the Daily Prophet. She's so annoying, she'll do anything for a bit of gossip, makes a lot of it up herself...Hello, you!" Draco was pulled into a bear-hug by Vicky, who was surprisingly strong given her size.
"Hiya, Drac, enjoying your day off? I'm working at the moment, on the lookout for Hagrid, I've heard a bit of gossip and I want to see if there's anything worth while submitting for the later edition of the Prophet. Ooh, who's this?" Vicky had just noticed Elliott. "Not cheating on Harry, are we?"
"Don't be stupid, you know me," said Draco, but Vicky ignored him and was chatting to Elliott. Basic stuff, like if he was single (the first question she asked any man), about his sexuality (the second), his name, his whole life story. Honestly, thought Draco, she's worse than Rita Skeeter, if that was possible. He looked around for someone to help him get Elliott away from Vicky and he spotted Tim, one of the Chasers on the Hogsmeade team. He wandered over to where Tim was rolling something that Draco wasn't entirely sure was legal.
"So, how do you know Draco?" Vicky was asking.
"Er, well, I first met him in Brighton..."
"Elliott!" called Tim, walking over with Draco to where they were sat. "Harry gave me a message, you and Draco are to meet him back at the flat and go on to Sirius's."
"Oh, er, thanks," said Elliott, trying to keep the relief from showing on his face.
"Oh, by the way, Draco, Seamus turned up just before training finished looking for you two, he demanded to know where you'd hidden his boyfriend."
"He never does think of looking in the shops, does he? Thanks, Tim. See you tomorrow, Vick!" Tim wandered off and Draco and Elliott Disapparated.
"I'm really sorry, Elliott, I should have warned you about her before... you didn't tell her anything too personal, did you?" demanded Draco as they appeared back at the flat. They were immediately pounced on by Thor, who jumped up into Draco's arms and started licking his face.
"Er, well, I told her I was seeing Seamus..."
"As long as she doesn't jump to conclusions and assume we've got something going on, we'll be all right," said Draco, looking worried. He groaned. "I hope she doesn't make something on the 'where have you hidden Seamus's boyfriend' thing, Tim really doesn't know when to shut up... he's a lovely bloke, just a bit dim. Fancy something to eat?"
"Yeah, pasta if you've got any." Draco served up lunch and they decided to watch daytime chat shows on the Wizarding Network while they ate. Wizard chat shows were a lot more interesting that Muggle ones, as the participants were more likely to hex each other than chat.
Suddenly the door slammed, causing Thor to bark madly and Draco to jump and spill bolognaise sauce all down his front. He looked at Harry in mock-indignation.
"Harry! You know this stuff is a total bugger to get out of velvet!" he joked, falling silent as he saw the expression on Harry's face. Cold fury was showing in every line of his face.
"Draco, what the hell is going on?" Harry demanded.
"What? I'm eating lunch and watching chat shows," replied Draco cautiously, putting down his pasta and picking up a mug of tea. Harry advanced on Draco, who shrank back into the couch.
"Idiot! I'm talking about you and him!" Harry gestured towards Elliott.
"Harry, calm down, there's nothing going on between me and Harry," said Elliott.
"I wasn't asking you!" shouted Harry. "Well, Draco?"
"Like Elliott said, there is absolutely nothing going on." Draco could tell from Harry's expression that he didn't believe him. "What? You want to use Veritaserum on me? Listen. There. Is. Nothing. Going. On! Even if I did fancy him - which I don't - I wouldn't do anything about it. I love you."
"Explain this then!" snarled Harry, throwing a newspaper article at Draco and sitting down in the armchair opposite him, where Thor bounced into his lap.
"What a bitch!" exclaimed Draco moments later, after he'd read the article, which was titled 'Potter marriage on the rocks?'. "Listen, Elliott... 'Potter marriage may be over before it has even begun'... 'Malfoy spotted in the company of a very attractive man'... look, she's even said that the fact you made me a daisy chain was proof of our 'burning sexual attraction for each other'!" Draco screamed. "I hate her! She should not be allowed to talk to people! Ever!"
"Draco? What's wrong?" asked Harry, eyeing Draco warily, uncomfortably aware that Draco had a mug of boiling hot tea in his hand, that he was waving about.
"Did you see who the article was written by?" asked Draco. Harry shook his head and Draco threw it back over the room to him.
"Vicky Rodgers? Oh, I see now! I'm sorry, Drac!"
"So you should be," pouted Draco.
"Oh no, he's doing the Passive-Aggressive Sulk!" announced Elliott theatrically, and they all laughed.
"Hi guys!" announced a voice behind them and they turned to look at the fire. Seamus's head was floating in the flames. He looked terrified, which was a previously unexplored emotion in Finnigan psyche. "Is Elliott with you?"
"I'm here, Seamus," announced Elliott, moving to the fire.
"Ah, good. Look, me mam's just arrived. She wants to meet you." Elliott giggled.
"That sounds like fun! I'll be over in a sec."
"Oh, and Harry? Next time don't let your husband wander off with my boyfriend without letting me know where they're going!" Seamus grinned.
"It would help if you didn't just wander off yourself!" replied Draco.
"Is that Harry Potter you're talking to?" a woman's voice came from behind Seamus. "Well, invite him over, and that husband of his if he's there!" Seamus turned bright red.
"Okay, mam. Well, you heard the lady, get your arses over here!" Seamus's head disappeared suddenly and they heard a thwacking sound as it went, a sound not unlike an enraged mother hitting an unruly son over the head with a rolling pin.
Draco laughed as he reached for Harry's hand.
"This promises to be fun," he said, as they all Apparated to Seamus's.
