TITLE: Dreams
EMAIL: red_roses@email.com
DISCLAIMER: Characters, setting, and more or less everything else belong to the marvellous J K Rowling.
RATING: R
PAIRING: Draco Malfoy / Harry Potter
FEEDBACK: Yes please!
Dreams – Chapter 2
The following nights were hardly any better. There were blessedly dream-free nights, the occasional dream of something completely different, like quidditch, but apart from that... Draco Malfoy haunted his nights. He sometimes found himself waking up, the impression of the dreams so strong that Harry could still feel where Draco's body had been pressed against his own, until he moved, and realised that it had just been another dream. Of course. It always was. This didn't help, though, when he saw Draco in the school corridor. He couldn't seem to say a word, only blushed at his own memories and walked away as quickly as he could. Harry was really sick of it all. It had gone far enough – he felt as though the secret was burning in his skull, and he wished more than anything that he could tell someone. He sighed, it looked like talking to Ron was his only option.
"Ron?" he asked his best friend that evening. "There's something I need to talk about. I'm telling you in strict confidence, though, right?" Ron nodded. Good, so... first things first. "Ron, I'm gay." Harry blurted out. Ron blinked in surprise. Well, no wonder – it hadn't been so long since Harry had given up his hopeless crush on Cho Chang. This would be a shock to anyone.
"You are?" Ron asked. Harry hoped he would be ok with this. Ron was his best friend, even closer than Hermione, and if he lost either of the two of them, he didn't know what he'd do. He decided to shut off these thoughts, thinking he'd just cross that bridge if he came to it.
"Yeah." Harry said shortly. There it was. Telling hadn't been too difficult, it was the reaction he was worried about. He needn't have worried.
"Cool!" said Ron, much to Harry's surprise. "You know, so is Bill."
"Really?" Harry would never have guessed. But, that didn't matter. It was a good start – Ron had taken the news really well. Now, there was just the matter of admitting which boy had turned his head. That would be a little harder to accept.
"I can't believe you never told me before," said Ron, then laughed, "I can just see Ginny's face when she hears. Not that I'll tell her, mind you, but you know, when you're ready... Is there – do you have an eye on anyone?"
"Er..." Harry took a deep breath. "Yes. I do. That's what makes this so hard for me to tell you... if I do tell you, you must swear on your life never to tell anyone."
"Of course I swear, it's..." Ron looked as though a thought had just struck him, "it's not me, is it?"
"No!" Harry blinked in shock. "Why do you think that?"
"Hey, I happen to think I'm actually somewhat attractive, even if I do say so myself." Ron said, feigning hurt. "It doesn't seem so far fetched that you could have been secretly lusting after me for years."
"Ron, I'm sure there are plenty of girls – and boys – who would readily sleep with you." Harry said. "You're good looking, ok? But you're my friend and that's all. Weirdly, I get on with you about a million times better than I get on with... him." Ron smiled.
"So, come on," he prompted Harry, "who's the guy that's you're all worked up over? Who could it possibly be that is so shocking?"
"Draco Malfoy." Harry said, speaking quietly, although he knew that would do little to decrease the shock. Ron almost fell over.
"Malfoy." Ron tried to overcome sheer disbelief. "You like Malfoy."
"No," Harry couldn't really explain, "I don't like him, I hate him. He hates me."
"So why him?" Ron looked distressed, which Harry could understand. Harry threw his hands up.
"I don't know! I didn't ask for this, and I wish I could change the way I feel... but it's those bloody dreams!" Harry tried to keep his voice down, but felt purely exasperated. Ron sympathised, and then a smile crept across his face.
"Dreams, you say?" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Harry glared, this was not funny.
"Shut up." he said. Stupid Weaselys and their weird sense of humour.
"You do know you're completely insane." Ron added.
"Yeah, I know." Harry said. "Completely."
"In all honesty, though, Harry... I'm glad you told me." Ron said seriously.
"Thanks."
Hermione was equally able to accept the idea, which cheered Harry. But, while it was good to have someone to talk to, that didn't stop the dreams from coming. Since telling his two friends, who were both sworn to secrecy, the attraction seemed to have grown to another dimension, it was more real. He couldn't just pretend it didn't exist anymore. But Hallowe'en is tomorrow, Harry reminded himself, that ought to take my mind off things, right? Later on, he wondered if he'd just told himself that through desperation, or if he'd actually been stupid enough to believe it.
"Welcome, pupils and professors all, to the Hogwarts annual Hallowe'en feast." Dumbledore announced to the great hall. "Our highest congratulations to the Slytherin quidditch team for their impressive victory against Ravenclaw last week. In particular, praise has been earned by the skilled broom-work of seeker for many years running – Draco Malfoy!" A black-caped, plastic-fanged, imitation vampire stood up at the middle of the Slytherin table in the midst of applause. It was well known that Ravenclaw cared least for sports out of all the Houses, and several of them were cheering Draco on too. "Now, we have several games coming up in the near future, so good luck to all of you, you'll be training hard, I trust. Anyway, let's get on with tonight's feast, shall we? Afterwards we'll have music and dancing for the older years. Have a good time, and my compliments to all of you on your fantastic costumes!"
The food was wonderful, but no less could be expected at Hogwarts. There were hams, vegetables, roast potatoes, sausage rolls, soups of all imaginable flavours, freshly baked bread... and then, of course, the cakes and puddings, all of which seemed better than Harry ever remembered. However, the only difficulty he faced was trying to eat without catching food in his false beard – as he had come dressed up as Merlin. A sympathetic glance from Dumbledore told him he wasn't the one with this problem. When the feast was over, tables and dinners were whisked away by house elves. Dumbledore raised his wand, muttered a few words, and music began to fill the great hall. The songs played were a selection of classic rock songs – both wizard and muggle – along with the occasional classical piece to satisfy those who had a more traditional taste in music. Harry thought he saw a commotion over at the side of the room where some Slytherin 4th years were hanging around, but he couldn't be sure. Then Ron and Hermione came running up to him.
"Harry, you've got to come with us." Hermione told him. "Some of the Slytherins are going around messing about the teacher's rooms, I think it's a dare game."
"This could get to be bad." Ron agreed. Harry nodded, and they walked out of the door, and down a few corridors to where the faint voices echoed.
"Ok, Goyle got Trelawney's crystal ball, so he's winning just now. Who's next, Pansy?" Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped out of the shadows. There were only about 10 people down here, most Slytherins, but 2 were Hufflepuffs, and Harry was sure one of them was a Ravenclaw. Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"Don't tell me they're joining in." Pansy complained, looking at the three Gryffindors in distaste.
"Of course they're not." Draco said dismissively. "Just keep going. I think next up on the list should be the library, we shouldn't miss that one out. Crabbe, you're lookout. And you three, piss off."
"Malfoy, do you always have to be such a stupid prick!" Harry said angrily. "You seriously think that Dumbledore wont find out what you're up to?"
"Actually," Malfoy said, "that's exactly what I think. The man can't be everywhere at once – and the last thing I knew, he was trying to drink Flitwick under the table." Several of the group laughed at this.
"He'd still recognise you if I called him down here, right now." Ron pointed out.
"And we will," said Hermione, "if you don't all get back to the feast right now. Honestly, I've never seen anything so juvenile..."
"I'm not dancing to muggle music." Declared a Slytherin girl from 4th year.
"You don't have to dance, you can sit and listen and... drink Butterbeer." Hermione said, and noticed how the mention of Butterbeer turned quite a few heads.
"There's a lot of Butterbeer," Ron agreed, "enough for all the pupils to drink as much as they want." Murmurs went between the pupils, everyone seemed be convinced that the feast wasn't so bad as they thought.
"Sod it, I'm taking my turn first." Draco told them. Of course, Draco Malfoy couldn't possibly give up until he'd had his moment in the spotlight. "Out of my way, Potter." Draco stormed into the library, heading straight for the restricted section.
"Your lookout's walked off." Hermione said, not seeing Crabbe anywhere. "Maybe we should take the others back."
"You two do that, I'll go find Malfoy," said Harry, "I know my way around there best, after all."
"You do not!" Hermione said indignantly. "Oh, you mean the restricted section, don't you."
"Good luck, Harry." Ron called after him. "And don't let Malfoy get to you, ok?" He gave Harry a meaningful look before walking away with the rest of the group.
Walking into the pitch darkness of the library, Harry resisted the urge to turn back and go with Ron and Hermione back to the dance. There were shelves and shelves of books, Draco could be anywhere in this maze known as the "restricted area". Failing to see anything through the darkness, Harry decided to make a small blue flame to guide him. Then, guided by his wand, he stepped through the bookcases more confidently. "Malfoy!" he called out, trying not to be too loud. If anyone was outside, he'd have no warning, they couldn't be allowed to overhear. "Where are you?" he spoke clearly, yet fairly softly. No answer. Ok, Malfoy was still being a bloody idiot and avoiding him. But Harry was willing to bet he'd find him, soon enough. Listening out, he heard quiet footfalls to his left. Ah... over there. He walked as silently as he could, then smiled. Draco was walking into a corner. All Harry needed to do was get there, grab him and drag him out of the library. The game was over. Quickly, he walked over to where he heard some lost-sounding footsteps. He was probably searching for either somewhere to escape Harry, or for his way out. Either way, it was hopeless back here. Harry lit the blue flame again, and saw the look of shock on Draco's face.
"Go away." Draco whispered harshly. But he looked nervous, and it was clear from the look on his face that he didn't want Harry to go away and leave him to find the way out alone.
"What did you come all the way back here for?" Harry asked. "You could have just as easily taken a book from a shelf near the door."
"I would have, but then I heard you coming in with your stupid mission to save me from, what, books? I can bloody well manage to get out of here alone." Draco looked annoyed, and as usual, still gorgeous. Harry tried vainly to exile this observation from his mind, but once there, it always stuck. In blue light, his scowling face seemed paler – almost ghostly – and framed by gleaming light coloured hair.
"You're lost." Harry said, but the words seemed separate. It didn't matter what he said, what he felt must be etched across his face. Draco smirked.
"How much Butterbeer did you have?" he asked Harry. "You look completely out of it."
"I didn't..." Harry broke off, hearing the door creak. Was it Ron? Hermione? One of Draco's friends?
"Come on, Mrs Norris," the elderly croaking voice beckoned. For a second Harry panicked, thinking they'd be found. But no, Filch wouldn't come this far into the library. What was he doing here so late anyway? He can't have known that there had been pupils here, away from the feast... Draco's eyes were wide with fear of discovery, and Harry steadied him with a hand on his shoulder, trying not to notice how warm Draco's skin was beneath his hand. Then he heard the door creak closed.
And the fateful clunk.
"What was that?" Draco whispered hoarsely to Harry, all of his aloof superiority gone.
"Er... I think we're locked in."
Author's note: Locked in the library together – slightly too convenient? Perhaps. But, oh well! *grins madly*