A/N: THANX TO...
**Fanny chan: Oh, you flatterer you! *hug*
**Coeur-de-ma-vie: Well then, lovey, I'm glad I could make your holiday bearable!
**Emma: Thanks, hun!
**JaneyLane5: *laughs* I bet this review was funnier than the original anyway!! *kiss*
**TheUknownJedi: Grounded for 2 WEEKS???? *faints from horror* Glad you're back! *hug*
**Milady69: Did I get this chappie up quick enough? *wink*
Chapter Nine: All Things Beautiful are as Frail
Draco stared. He kept staring as Harry made his way, blushing madly, across the living room to stand by the door. His hair, streaked with a deep green tonight, masked the priceless expression of his eyes. Draco noticed the trademark glasses were gone, probably replaced with some temporary spell. But Draco really didn't care. All he knew was that Harry looked dead hot and that he, Draco, would be the man hanging onto this Sex God's arm and the only one in those covered eyes. It was a feeling that made Draco suddenly very happy to be alive, and to be alive with someone as devoted and wonderful as Harry Potter.
"Is that outfit legal?"
"I hope not."
"Merlin, Harry, let's skip the club-"
"No. You said we needed a night out, Draco."
"How am I supposed to protect you from every human being with good taste and eyes in their heads!"
"Now you know how I feel - ALL the time."
Draco stuck his tongue out at Harry, and when the darker boy came within range, threw his thin arms around his neck and cried, "Kiss me, you fool!"
Harry grinned with mischief in his eyes and dipped the blonde deeply, laughing as Draco gasped when his hair brushed the floor. Then Harry began stroking Draco's spiky platinum tendrils and speaking in the manner of the Warner Bros. Skunk of Love, Pepe Le Pue, to his unwilling cat mistress. Draco, clinging to Harry's neck, rolled his eyes and kissed Harry, shutting him up.
Stroking his tongue gently at first, then latching onto Harry's bottom lip, Draco purred against the rose bud mouth, smiling into Harry as the other man lowered him to the hard floor, whereas the taller man stretched over him, straddling his slender waist.
"Maybe we *should* skip the club," Harry whispered down Draco's neck, following his warm breath with a hot, moist tongue. Draco arched into him, digging his sharp elbows into the floor when Harry pushed back his open collared shirt and found an erected bud, bathing it in warmth.
"Don't tempt me, we haven't been out in ages and are becoming antisocial," Draco groaned in reply, though his argument was weak.
Harry leaned back.
"I suppose you're right," he admitted, to Draco's disappointment, "So let's go before we get carried away again."
He helped Draco to his feet, where the blonde gave him a peck on the cheek, and they both Disapparated from the cottage with smiles on their faces, love in their eyes, hands resting on each others' bums, and glitter glinting in their wild hair.
The club was in full swing by the time Harry felt his legs giving out. He pulled Draco to one of the nearby couches, shoving aside the feet of a romping couple. Then he lay his head on Draco's bare chest while the platinum blonde stroked his cheek and watched the wild and raunchy dancing and the flashing lights that struck up a small aching in the back of his head.
"And that wraps up hour three," Harry shouted hoarsely in his ear over the music, hot breath stirring Draco's sweat flattened hair. Really, he didn't see why anyone got all dressed up for a club. By the time you were either dumped drunk in a ditch, or driven to the hospital, or married to a complete stranger, you looked like a cheap whore from the ghetto.
Chuckling at his own thoughts, Draco rested his head on Harry's as he felt the pulse of Harry's rapidly beating heart slow down. Glancing at his face, stark white in the shine of the black lights, Draco realized his partner was sleeping. For once, the lines of worry etching Harry's delicate features disappeared in a slumber of complete and utter exhaustion.
It was then as Harry slept in all the rip roaring action of the club that Draco noticed a pair of eyes fixed on him from the other side of the dark underground room. He squinted, but it did no more then cloud his vision. Feeling thoroughly old at his sight detriment, Draco leaned back and cradled Harry's head in his lap, taking to tracing his fingers over the sleeping wizard's face and quickly forgetting those staring eyes.
But the eyes did not leave him and were still fixed on him ten minutes later when Harry snorted and rolled over, shoving his face (purely unintentional) into Draco's groin area. Squeaking and laughing at the same time as several other couples made catcalls at him, Draco lowered Harry's head onto the frayed cushions of the couch and crouched down next to him on the floor, eye level with the heavy black lashes quivering as Harry's crystal green eyes darted under the closed lids in a dream.
"You can sleep through a club, yet whenever you tried to catch up on lost sleep in Binn's class, you said you couldn't do it," he teased quietly, knowing full well that no one else could hear him.
Then he noticed how chapped Harry's lips were, and decided he could trust the occupants of this club enough not to steal his partner in the few minutes it would take to get him a glass of hard lemonade, since they didn't sell straight drinks here, no pun intended.
Getting to his feet and shaking away the wave of dizziness, Draco dusted off his knees and touched Harry's hair before spinning smartly on his heel to get the lemonade. Unfortunately upon turning, he squashed his nose into the broad chest of some man blocking his way. Looking up and preparing an indignant retort that he was in no mood for big gits with bad manners, he realized who exactly the man was.
"Quinne!" he started in surprise, taking in the leather clad, shirtless business partner.
Quinne grinned dashingly and shook his sparkling honey hair, now adorned in white highlights and violet glitter.
"You are looking very beautiful tonight, Drac," he commented, eyes roving over Draco's glistening body.
Crossing his arms over himself and trying to dispel the feeling that those brown eyes were mentally undressing him, Draco motioned to the bar and yelled, "Harry's gone to sleep and I'm going over to get him a drink. Want anything?"
Quinne shook his head no, and leaned forward so that his lips were nearly resting against Draco's ear and said clearly, "Before you go, would you join me for one little dance? Just one short one, and you'll be on your way again."
Draco looked down at Quinne's longfingered hand resting on his hip and bit his lip, glancing uncertainly back at Harry.
"I don't know, Quinne," he shouted over the booming music, "I don't want someone coming over and messing with Harry!"
"He's sleeping, he'll be fine."
"Well.... alright. But just a quick one."
Quinne's grin grew again and with the hand resting on Draco's hip, he steered the slighter man out onto the dance floor where the music changed to a slow song as if on cue. Looking uncomfortable, Draco began to decline Quinne's offer, remembering those eyes on him, but found himself against the other man's chest before he was able to say anything.
Looking back again at Harry to see if he was still all right, Draco didn't failed to notice it as Quinne turned him gently around so that his back pressed into the bigger man. He *did* notice though when Quinne's large hands snaked over his stomach and passed his belt, hugging him against swaying hips. Wriggling a tiny bit at the feel of Quinne's belt buckle digging into the small of his back, Draco tried to relax and dance to the slow music.
His eyes kept going to Harry, who was still sleeping, even under the earlier romping couple who had rolled over him as if he were nothing but a lumpy throw pillow. Draco smiled again, weaker this time and feeling the weariness of partying taking its toll on him. Quinne held him tighter and started to thrust against him with the beat of the music, and singing a lilting tenor in Draco's ear.
The former Slytherin swayed a little, an alarm going off in the back of his head as Quinne's nimble fingers felt over the buckle of his belt. He moaned lightly in protest, but the nearly inaudible sound was lost in the volume of music and raised voices. His belt was slipped from the loops of his pants and warm hands shoved under the waistband.
Silver eyes flew open, glowing in the black lights. He struggled against Quinne's embrace as the bigger man pressed him closer, honey hair stifling his breath as he kissed along Draco's jaw line and bumped against his back harder and harder as the music grew in volume and pace.
Harry slept on soundly as the romping couple using him as a pillow tumbled in a heap to the floor, mouths never coming away from each other. He stirred lightly, sniffing his nose and tucking a hand beneath his cheek.
Draco cried out, raising his hands to push at Quinne's arms tightening around him and the warm hands, now so cold, pressing against his flushed skin. He twisted and managed to stumble away, crashing into another man who shoved him sideways, sending the staggering blonde crashing into a nearby wall.
Eyes fluttering weakly, Draco felt more than saw Quinne nearing him, pressing him tightly to the wall. The now so rough mouth put off a strong stench of whiskey and Draco let out a scream as his lips were crushed against his teeth and the inside of his mouth filled with the taste of whiskey soaked breath.
Hands groped down his back and cupped his backside, lifting him against the broad chest, slimy tongue dragging at his swollen lips and lapping at his gums. Quinne thrust his pelvis against Draco, moans reverberating between their lips. The picture frame Draco's shoulder had struck rocked and clapped the wall each time Draco cried out as he was shoved back into the vivid colored wall behind him repeatedly.
Sweat poured over Quinne's chest and smeared over Draco's face as his head was pushed down. He scratched at the dark erected buds facing him and gasped as the strong fingers were twined in his hair, yanking his face back up to be devoured again by Quinne's harsh mouth, gleaming teeth stabbing at his lps and drawing sweet crimson blood to trickle down his chin in stinging pain.
"Let go!" he bellowed as Quinne reached down to rip his pants away.
Draco was struggling terribly now, so the large hand trailed up and caught Draco's flushed face, holding it still, nails cutting into his cheek.
The terrible mouth came closer and closer. Draco shrunk back against the wall, straining his neck to throw his head to the side. But Quinne was too strong for him and managed to pin him to the wall with his lips.
Draco's eyes rolled wildly as his stomach reeled. Quinne shoved his foul tongue into Draco's mouth, nearly choking the young wizard. Draco scratched at the bare chest stifling him with heat and sweat, pulled at the thick hair crowding his face, and frantically searched the occupants of the club for a familiar face to help him.
Then he found one.
Harry stood in the middle of the dance floor, an expression as Draco had never seen before on his face. He was staring at Draco and the former Slytherin saw with a terrible sinking feeling that the emerald eyes changed, darkening into a look of black rage and betrayal.
No! he wanted to scream, but Harry was already gone before he could do anything, and Quinne had moved to his neck, biting it harshly.
"Let me GO!!" he roared, bringing his knee up into Quinne's chin and sending the bigger man flipping backwards. Without another look back - dripping blood, pants undone, shirt ripped in several places, and bruises dotting his flesh - Draco ran into the rain outside the club where he had seen Harry disappear, tears already starting down his pale face, sending the angry emerald eyes blazing.....
..... He knew Draco would love it. Everything about it screamed his taste.
The ring's dark jewel glittered in the candle light. Harry thought it a little gothic to propose with, but it held a dark beauty that seemed to match his Slytherin perfectly.
At first he had thought that proposing was a stupid thing to do. But after Nayve's "birth", he knew it was only right. The year was ending soon anyway, and he would have to have something connecting him to Draco before they could meet again outside of school.
Tucking the silver ring back into his pocket, Harry quickened his pace down the long hall, breath already heavy in his lungs from the sprint he took evading Filch's questions as to why young Potter would be out in the hall this night.
Cursing himself once more for forgetting his invisibility cloak, Harry stopped at a door and listened. Nothing. Draco wouldn't be in there anyway. But where? was the question. The blonde didn't know that Harry was meeting him tonight, for it was to be a surprise when he would pop the question. Despite the solid fact that Draco despised surprises, Harry felt the excitement bubbling inside his chest for when his lover would gaze over the jewel that would bind their fates to one another.
"Bind our fates," he murmured, not able to stifle what he knew to be a goofy grin on his face.
Giving up on any of their usual hiding places, Harry trudged back to his dorm and sat on his bed, thinking. Then it struck him like a brick to the temple.
Draco would be in his dorm!
It was only obvious, Harry conceded to himself on the way to Slytherin, hidden safe under hs cloak. He wasn't expecting me, so why would he be hanging about at our secret places?
Harry only had to wait a couple minutes before a third year Slytherin, being led by a very irritable Slytherin Prefect, whined the password to the wall and was permitted entrance, allowing the Griffindor inside, too. He watched as the third year was lectured before making his way up the stairs, chuckling.
Draco had gotten his own room by special circumstances arranged by his father. Harry put his ear to the door, gently tapping his wand on the handle. He heard Draco's voice, and wondered whether the Slytherin was reciting spells.
Pushing the door open and backing in, shutting it behind him and slipping off the cloak all in one movement, Harry turned around, beaming and thrust forth the ring.
It clattered to the floor a second later as Harry realized Draco was not alone in his room, or in his bed.
The wanton face of the Slytherin Blaize regarded Harry almost lazily, teal eyes hooded and quiet. Lying full length on top of Blaize, uncovered by either blankets or clothes, was Draco suckling upon the other boy's ear and massaging his shoulders, hips grinding into the teal eyed boy's back.
Silver eyes raised and time stood still. Harry felt his legs become lead and his insides turn to water. His lips fell apart and he watched in a dull shock as Draco leaned back into a sitting position, still straddling Blaize. He stared at Blaize's face when the boy moaned and gasped along with Draco's movement, arching at the pressure the blonde boy pressed inside of him.
Harry's legs gave away and he crumpled to the ground, tears clouding his gaze and a terribly aching pain breaking over his chest in a spreading of freezing cold. Hazily he heard Blaize's voice rise in a hiss of pleasure and the small smack of Draco leaving Blaize's body. His green eyes were fixed to the floor, draining away the salty tears to drip over his hands and run over the fallen ring lying by his limp fingers.
Blaize sauntered by him a few minutes later, blowing Draco a slow kiss at the doorway. But Draco was watching Harry with a blank expression that sent heated daggers stabbing into his heart with every steady breath Draco took.
"How could you do this to me?" he asked, curling up on the floor into a fetal position. Draco stayed where he was on the bed, eyes going to the ring lying on the ground.
"You took a risk, Potter," he said hollowly, with no trace of feeling or regard to the huddled figure on his plush green carpet. Harry raised his head, eyes burning holes of betrayal into Draco's.
"I took a risk," he repeated in an empty voice.
"Face it," Draco continued as if Harry had not spoken, a small sneer itching at his lips, "Nothing ever lasts forever. I suggest you go back to your happy little dream world, Potter. To your happy little camera mad Creevey brothers, your countless fan clubs of little squealing girls. Go back to your Weasel and your Mudblood, where you *belong*. Leave, Potter. A Golden Boy such as yourself does not appertain in the pit of snakes."
He turned away from Harry then, who was clutching at the ground with numb fingers, shaking with sobs.
"But *why*, Draco," he pleaded, anger disintegrating into a desperate fear. "I *do* belong with you! You told me you loved me, you told me that. And I love you! I *love* you, Draco!"
The silver eyes glinted.
"Shut up, Potter," he said in a deadpan voice, sending Harry a cold glare. "Get out of here now before Blaize comes to his wits and tells the others."
"No! I won't leave you, Draco! You *love* me-"
"I'm *bored* of you!" Draco roared, rising from the bed and taking Harry roughly by the shoulders, shaking him. Harry sobbed, trying to cling to Draco's chest, but the Slytherin shoved him backwards to the floor, stumbling away as if Harry had burned him. "Get out. Get OUT!"
~*~
Harry sat in the midst of his peers as Dumbledore read aloud their names in alphabetical order from each house. He had already gone up and accepted his Wizard's diploma, grinning back at Hermione streaming tears of joy and Ron pumping his fist in the air. Seamus and Dean thumped him on the back when he returned, and Parvati had thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. Dismissing his usual patient annoyance with the girl, he hugged both her and Lavender tightly, whispering to all of his friends, "We did it!"
Dumbledore paused for the applause to stop as another student sat down. When he read out the next name, Harry flinched.
"Malfoy, Draco."
The Slytherin table of seventh years roared its approval as he shook hands with Dumbledore and the other staff members stiffly, only showing emotion to Snape, who he gave a weak smile acknowledging the man's proud look. When he strode back down the stairs, his eyes met Harry's only for a fleeting second. He paused suddenly in the middle of his step. Harry's breath left his chest in a whoosh.
Then the silver eyes moved over him and Draco sat down. Harry looked down at his hands as another name was read. That look had been as devoid of feeling as the ribboned deploma he held in his quaking hands.
The next day waking up from their graduating party in Hogsmeade, the seventh years bid a final farewell to their school. Students flooded teacher's classrooms, wishing them luck and thanking them for so many years of good times.
Harry had finished early after trying to tell Professor Snape that he didn't hate him and that he really was a good person. *That* turned out to be a big mistake and Harry had afterwards fled from the crowded halls to get a little bout of freedom on the lake. It was from up in the boughs of the weeping willow he saw Draco climbing into his family carriage beside his father.
The black cloak the pale boy wore billowed in the wind of the afternoon and the chill rose spots of color in his cheeks like rouge. His silver eyes one last time swept the turrets of the castle and he raised his hand in a last farewell before ducking into the carriage and riding off into the approaching sunset.
As he rocked back and forth inside the carriage beside his cold father, Draco blinked away the stinging tears threatening to spill over his lids. He had seen Harry watching him from the willow, and he had felt the intense pain again as was so the night he cast Harry from his life.
Moving his misting gaze to the tiny window of the carriage, Draco remembered the night that Harry had said the one thing that sent tendrils of fear snaking their way through Draco's heart:
'Nayve reminded me that we'll never have a family.'
A family.
The thought of such commitment, and the realization that Draco himself longed for such, had scared him worse than anything before. It was with the falling of those words that Draco realized how much he cared about Harry Potter. How much the boy meant, taped glasses and all. Those feelings that stirred inside him both hurt and made him.
They also reminded him of how much he could get hurt if Harry ever left him, so he escaped first.
The sun sunk beneath the burning red horizon and Draco's eyes reflected the scene in pools of crimson light dancing through his eyes. Those burning eyes turned downwards to regard a small object lying in his hands. He closed his fingers tightly around it and closed his eyes against the glare of the night, tears seeping past his lids to drip onto his hands, falling between the cracks of his rigid fingers to paint the object clutched in them with the sadness tearing his soul.....
..... There, a flash of white that could only be the top Harry had worn to the club. Draco hurried, skipping past people all bundled up in their warm clothes who gave the beautiful young man running in the rain momentary stares before forgetting him and trudging onwards.
The alley he slid into was dark and long. At the end there was a break between the brick walls and Draco would see a ghostly shadowed tree of the city park. He began to run, faster and faster, slipping and sliding over various items of garbage, doorsteps, and homeless people.
Harry was standing out in the middle of a wide clearing in the park, head bent back, neck arched beautifully as he drank in the rain. Draco slowed and stopped under the cover of a large tree, watching his partner and catching his breath as it stung with moistness through his heaving lungs.
Green eyes matching the grass sweeping out on either side of them turned up to find him out among the shadows. Harry turned violently away and started marching pointedly in the other direction, on the brink of breaking into a run by the way his legs were so stiff. Draco knew him well enough to realize that Harry did not want to be found at all.
Slender legs much stronger than they looked flew over sopping grass as the other pair pounded over the wet ground as well. Draco was faster than Harry though. He knew it, and so did Harry the way he ran so desperately.
Draco closed in on the darker boy quickly, leaning against the rain and shooting through it like a torpedo of flesh and blood. Harry glanced over his shoulder and threw himself forward for a burst of speed.
They were nearing the hill and Harry was running with wild abandon. Draco could hear his gasping breaths through the rain as well as see the puffs of steam. It wouldn't be long-
With a flying tackle rivaling those in the game of Rugby, Draco closed his arms around Harry's middle, pinning his pumping hands and slamming them both midway into the hill. There was a second of struggle before they slid off of the tiny plateau they had landed, and went tumbling together down the slope.
Draco landed heavily atop Harry, gaining his wits quick enough to the pin the other man's hands and hold them to the ground. Harry growled and twisted, fighting tooth and nail to get free, but Draco was as stone.
A gasping and terribly sweaty rainsoaked stone, but well enough the same.
Deciding that there was really no chance he was getting free without some kind of confrontation; either physical, mental, or both, Harry blinked rapidly against the rain and sent a withering glare at Draco, who had neatly straddling his waist and trying to catch his breath enough to speak.
"So what are you?" Harry started savagely, "Some kind of little whore for him, then?! Do you get on your fucking knees for him behind his desk at work? I was wondering why you kept going to that job. And what *job* was it? Blow, I presume!?"
"Harry-"
"Shut up and get off of me! I never want to see you again, you fucking bastard! I am not your doormat any more, Malfoy. Go find some fucking ponce like Quinne to fill your bed from now on, because I am DONE with you, Draco Malfoy!"
"Harry, please. You don't know what you're saying-"
"No! This time, I get to leave you. This time, you're the one who gets to feel what it's like to be left alone." Harry was getting hysterical now, shaking and sobbing so that his words were nearly inaudible mixed with the pounding of the rain and thunder overhead.
"Harry, please," Draco whispered, tears meeting rain drops as Harry shut his eyes and tried to yank his hands free, "If you would listen to me-"
"Why should I?" Harry snarled venomously.
Draco growled back and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Because I love you and only you, you daft twit! Quinne was drunk off his arse and if you would actually have taken time to come over and find out what was happening, you would've seen he was trying to bloody fuck me against my will!"
He leaned close to Harry's stricken face, voice becoming very quiet and laced with frustration; "When we were younger I may have been nothing but a miserable whore finding self worth in how many people I could get to scream my name and tell me they loved me, but there was one person I actually believed felt what I longed for. That person is you."
"Than why did you leave me," Harry whispered brokenly, tears still flooding out his eyes, "Why did you say those things in seventh year?"
"Because I was afraid of my love for you. I was afraid to admit I would never look at another the same way I look at you. I was absolutely terrified at the fact that by you smiling, my day would become worth going through. Can you even imagine feeling those emotions for the first time in your life and knowing that you had finally found that one person who you would give your heart to?"
Harry stared at him with wide eyes, lids twitching in the pelting rain. His mouth was open slightly, and Draco let go of his hands. They sat across from each other, and Harry looked up at the sky, then back down at Draco.
"I-"
"Don't," Draco said, smiling. "We're having a moment, just don't speak."
Then Harry fell laughing with relief into Draco's arms and they embraced under the rolling gray clouds of the raging storm.
A/N: THIS IS ***NOT*** THE END, blast it!!!! I know it's horribly guppy and all that, but I'm not done. You still have one more chapter that ties everything together. Then, and only then, we shall be done. *grin* So.... how did you guys like my bout of predictiveness, eh, EH? Was it way too cliched? Tell me, please, I'm too giggly right now to tell myself. *kiss* Au revior!
~*Villain*~
**Fanny chan: Oh, you flatterer you! *hug*
**Coeur-de-ma-vie: Well then, lovey, I'm glad I could make your holiday bearable!
**Emma: Thanks, hun!
**JaneyLane5: *laughs* I bet this review was funnier than the original anyway!! *kiss*
**TheUknownJedi: Grounded for 2 WEEKS???? *faints from horror* Glad you're back! *hug*
**Milady69: Did I get this chappie up quick enough? *wink*
Chapter Nine: All Things Beautiful are as Frail
Draco stared. He kept staring as Harry made his way, blushing madly, across the living room to stand by the door. His hair, streaked with a deep green tonight, masked the priceless expression of his eyes. Draco noticed the trademark glasses were gone, probably replaced with some temporary spell. But Draco really didn't care. All he knew was that Harry looked dead hot and that he, Draco, would be the man hanging onto this Sex God's arm and the only one in those covered eyes. It was a feeling that made Draco suddenly very happy to be alive, and to be alive with someone as devoted and wonderful as Harry Potter.
"Is that outfit legal?"
"I hope not."
"Merlin, Harry, let's skip the club-"
"No. You said we needed a night out, Draco."
"How am I supposed to protect you from every human being with good taste and eyes in their heads!"
"Now you know how I feel - ALL the time."
Draco stuck his tongue out at Harry, and when the darker boy came within range, threw his thin arms around his neck and cried, "Kiss me, you fool!"
Harry grinned with mischief in his eyes and dipped the blonde deeply, laughing as Draco gasped when his hair brushed the floor. Then Harry began stroking Draco's spiky platinum tendrils and speaking in the manner of the Warner Bros. Skunk of Love, Pepe Le Pue, to his unwilling cat mistress. Draco, clinging to Harry's neck, rolled his eyes and kissed Harry, shutting him up.
Stroking his tongue gently at first, then latching onto Harry's bottom lip, Draco purred against the rose bud mouth, smiling into Harry as the other man lowered him to the hard floor, whereas the taller man stretched over him, straddling his slender waist.
"Maybe we *should* skip the club," Harry whispered down Draco's neck, following his warm breath with a hot, moist tongue. Draco arched into him, digging his sharp elbows into the floor when Harry pushed back his open collared shirt and found an erected bud, bathing it in warmth.
"Don't tempt me, we haven't been out in ages and are becoming antisocial," Draco groaned in reply, though his argument was weak.
Harry leaned back.
"I suppose you're right," he admitted, to Draco's disappointment, "So let's go before we get carried away again."
He helped Draco to his feet, where the blonde gave him a peck on the cheek, and they both Disapparated from the cottage with smiles on their faces, love in their eyes, hands resting on each others' bums, and glitter glinting in their wild hair.
The club was in full swing by the time Harry felt his legs giving out. He pulled Draco to one of the nearby couches, shoving aside the feet of a romping couple. Then he lay his head on Draco's bare chest while the platinum blonde stroked his cheek and watched the wild and raunchy dancing and the flashing lights that struck up a small aching in the back of his head.
"And that wraps up hour three," Harry shouted hoarsely in his ear over the music, hot breath stirring Draco's sweat flattened hair. Really, he didn't see why anyone got all dressed up for a club. By the time you were either dumped drunk in a ditch, or driven to the hospital, or married to a complete stranger, you looked like a cheap whore from the ghetto.
Chuckling at his own thoughts, Draco rested his head on Harry's as he felt the pulse of Harry's rapidly beating heart slow down. Glancing at his face, stark white in the shine of the black lights, Draco realized his partner was sleeping. For once, the lines of worry etching Harry's delicate features disappeared in a slumber of complete and utter exhaustion.
It was then as Harry slept in all the rip roaring action of the club that Draco noticed a pair of eyes fixed on him from the other side of the dark underground room. He squinted, but it did no more then cloud his vision. Feeling thoroughly old at his sight detriment, Draco leaned back and cradled Harry's head in his lap, taking to tracing his fingers over the sleeping wizard's face and quickly forgetting those staring eyes.
But the eyes did not leave him and were still fixed on him ten minutes later when Harry snorted and rolled over, shoving his face (purely unintentional) into Draco's groin area. Squeaking and laughing at the same time as several other couples made catcalls at him, Draco lowered Harry's head onto the frayed cushions of the couch and crouched down next to him on the floor, eye level with the heavy black lashes quivering as Harry's crystal green eyes darted under the closed lids in a dream.
"You can sleep through a club, yet whenever you tried to catch up on lost sleep in Binn's class, you said you couldn't do it," he teased quietly, knowing full well that no one else could hear him.
Then he noticed how chapped Harry's lips were, and decided he could trust the occupants of this club enough not to steal his partner in the few minutes it would take to get him a glass of hard lemonade, since they didn't sell straight drinks here, no pun intended.
Getting to his feet and shaking away the wave of dizziness, Draco dusted off his knees and touched Harry's hair before spinning smartly on his heel to get the lemonade. Unfortunately upon turning, he squashed his nose into the broad chest of some man blocking his way. Looking up and preparing an indignant retort that he was in no mood for big gits with bad manners, he realized who exactly the man was.
"Quinne!" he started in surprise, taking in the leather clad, shirtless business partner.
Quinne grinned dashingly and shook his sparkling honey hair, now adorned in white highlights and violet glitter.
"You are looking very beautiful tonight, Drac," he commented, eyes roving over Draco's glistening body.
Crossing his arms over himself and trying to dispel the feeling that those brown eyes were mentally undressing him, Draco motioned to the bar and yelled, "Harry's gone to sleep and I'm going over to get him a drink. Want anything?"
Quinne shook his head no, and leaned forward so that his lips were nearly resting against Draco's ear and said clearly, "Before you go, would you join me for one little dance? Just one short one, and you'll be on your way again."
Draco looked down at Quinne's longfingered hand resting on his hip and bit his lip, glancing uncertainly back at Harry.
"I don't know, Quinne," he shouted over the booming music, "I don't want someone coming over and messing with Harry!"
"He's sleeping, he'll be fine."
"Well.... alright. But just a quick one."
Quinne's grin grew again and with the hand resting on Draco's hip, he steered the slighter man out onto the dance floor where the music changed to a slow song as if on cue. Looking uncomfortable, Draco began to decline Quinne's offer, remembering those eyes on him, but found himself against the other man's chest before he was able to say anything.
Looking back again at Harry to see if he was still all right, Draco didn't failed to notice it as Quinne turned him gently around so that his back pressed into the bigger man. He *did* notice though when Quinne's large hands snaked over his stomach and passed his belt, hugging him against swaying hips. Wriggling a tiny bit at the feel of Quinne's belt buckle digging into the small of his back, Draco tried to relax and dance to the slow music.
His eyes kept going to Harry, who was still sleeping, even under the earlier romping couple who had rolled over him as if he were nothing but a lumpy throw pillow. Draco smiled again, weaker this time and feeling the weariness of partying taking its toll on him. Quinne held him tighter and started to thrust against him with the beat of the music, and singing a lilting tenor in Draco's ear.
The former Slytherin swayed a little, an alarm going off in the back of his head as Quinne's nimble fingers felt over the buckle of his belt. He moaned lightly in protest, but the nearly inaudible sound was lost in the volume of music and raised voices. His belt was slipped from the loops of his pants and warm hands shoved under the waistband.
Silver eyes flew open, glowing in the black lights. He struggled against Quinne's embrace as the bigger man pressed him closer, honey hair stifling his breath as he kissed along Draco's jaw line and bumped against his back harder and harder as the music grew in volume and pace.
Harry slept on soundly as the romping couple using him as a pillow tumbled in a heap to the floor, mouths never coming away from each other. He stirred lightly, sniffing his nose and tucking a hand beneath his cheek.
Draco cried out, raising his hands to push at Quinne's arms tightening around him and the warm hands, now so cold, pressing against his flushed skin. He twisted and managed to stumble away, crashing into another man who shoved him sideways, sending the staggering blonde crashing into a nearby wall.
Eyes fluttering weakly, Draco felt more than saw Quinne nearing him, pressing him tightly to the wall. The now so rough mouth put off a strong stench of whiskey and Draco let out a scream as his lips were crushed against his teeth and the inside of his mouth filled with the taste of whiskey soaked breath.
Hands groped down his back and cupped his backside, lifting him against the broad chest, slimy tongue dragging at his swollen lips and lapping at his gums. Quinne thrust his pelvis against Draco, moans reverberating between their lips. The picture frame Draco's shoulder had struck rocked and clapped the wall each time Draco cried out as he was shoved back into the vivid colored wall behind him repeatedly.
Sweat poured over Quinne's chest and smeared over Draco's face as his head was pushed down. He scratched at the dark erected buds facing him and gasped as the strong fingers were twined in his hair, yanking his face back up to be devoured again by Quinne's harsh mouth, gleaming teeth stabbing at his lps and drawing sweet crimson blood to trickle down his chin in stinging pain.
"Let go!" he bellowed as Quinne reached down to rip his pants away.
Draco was struggling terribly now, so the large hand trailed up and caught Draco's flushed face, holding it still, nails cutting into his cheek.
The terrible mouth came closer and closer. Draco shrunk back against the wall, straining his neck to throw his head to the side. But Quinne was too strong for him and managed to pin him to the wall with his lips.
Draco's eyes rolled wildly as his stomach reeled. Quinne shoved his foul tongue into Draco's mouth, nearly choking the young wizard. Draco scratched at the bare chest stifling him with heat and sweat, pulled at the thick hair crowding his face, and frantically searched the occupants of the club for a familiar face to help him.
Then he found one.
Harry stood in the middle of the dance floor, an expression as Draco had never seen before on his face. He was staring at Draco and the former Slytherin saw with a terrible sinking feeling that the emerald eyes changed, darkening into a look of black rage and betrayal.
No! he wanted to scream, but Harry was already gone before he could do anything, and Quinne had moved to his neck, biting it harshly.
"Let me GO!!" he roared, bringing his knee up into Quinne's chin and sending the bigger man flipping backwards. Without another look back - dripping blood, pants undone, shirt ripped in several places, and bruises dotting his flesh - Draco ran into the rain outside the club where he had seen Harry disappear, tears already starting down his pale face, sending the angry emerald eyes blazing.....
..... He knew Draco would love it. Everything about it screamed his taste.
The ring's dark jewel glittered in the candle light. Harry thought it a little gothic to propose with, but it held a dark beauty that seemed to match his Slytherin perfectly.
At first he had thought that proposing was a stupid thing to do. But after Nayve's "birth", he knew it was only right. The year was ending soon anyway, and he would have to have something connecting him to Draco before they could meet again outside of school.
Tucking the silver ring back into his pocket, Harry quickened his pace down the long hall, breath already heavy in his lungs from the sprint he took evading Filch's questions as to why young Potter would be out in the hall this night.
Cursing himself once more for forgetting his invisibility cloak, Harry stopped at a door and listened. Nothing. Draco wouldn't be in there anyway. But where? was the question. The blonde didn't know that Harry was meeting him tonight, for it was to be a surprise when he would pop the question. Despite the solid fact that Draco despised surprises, Harry felt the excitement bubbling inside his chest for when his lover would gaze over the jewel that would bind their fates to one another.
"Bind our fates," he murmured, not able to stifle what he knew to be a goofy grin on his face.
Giving up on any of their usual hiding places, Harry trudged back to his dorm and sat on his bed, thinking. Then it struck him like a brick to the temple.
Draco would be in his dorm!
It was only obvious, Harry conceded to himself on the way to Slytherin, hidden safe under hs cloak. He wasn't expecting me, so why would he be hanging about at our secret places?
Harry only had to wait a couple minutes before a third year Slytherin, being led by a very irritable Slytherin Prefect, whined the password to the wall and was permitted entrance, allowing the Griffindor inside, too. He watched as the third year was lectured before making his way up the stairs, chuckling.
Draco had gotten his own room by special circumstances arranged by his father. Harry put his ear to the door, gently tapping his wand on the handle. He heard Draco's voice, and wondered whether the Slytherin was reciting spells.
Pushing the door open and backing in, shutting it behind him and slipping off the cloak all in one movement, Harry turned around, beaming and thrust forth the ring.
It clattered to the floor a second later as Harry realized Draco was not alone in his room, or in his bed.
The wanton face of the Slytherin Blaize regarded Harry almost lazily, teal eyes hooded and quiet. Lying full length on top of Blaize, uncovered by either blankets or clothes, was Draco suckling upon the other boy's ear and massaging his shoulders, hips grinding into the teal eyed boy's back.
Silver eyes raised and time stood still. Harry felt his legs become lead and his insides turn to water. His lips fell apart and he watched in a dull shock as Draco leaned back into a sitting position, still straddling Blaize. He stared at Blaize's face when the boy moaned and gasped along with Draco's movement, arching at the pressure the blonde boy pressed inside of him.
Harry's legs gave away and he crumpled to the ground, tears clouding his gaze and a terribly aching pain breaking over his chest in a spreading of freezing cold. Hazily he heard Blaize's voice rise in a hiss of pleasure and the small smack of Draco leaving Blaize's body. His green eyes were fixed to the floor, draining away the salty tears to drip over his hands and run over the fallen ring lying by his limp fingers.
Blaize sauntered by him a few minutes later, blowing Draco a slow kiss at the doorway. But Draco was watching Harry with a blank expression that sent heated daggers stabbing into his heart with every steady breath Draco took.
"How could you do this to me?" he asked, curling up on the floor into a fetal position. Draco stayed where he was on the bed, eyes going to the ring lying on the ground.
"You took a risk, Potter," he said hollowly, with no trace of feeling or regard to the huddled figure on his plush green carpet. Harry raised his head, eyes burning holes of betrayal into Draco's.
"I took a risk," he repeated in an empty voice.
"Face it," Draco continued as if Harry had not spoken, a small sneer itching at his lips, "Nothing ever lasts forever. I suggest you go back to your happy little dream world, Potter. To your happy little camera mad Creevey brothers, your countless fan clubs of little squealing girls. Go back to your Weasel and your Mudblood, where you *belong*. Leave, Potter. A Golden Boy such as yourself does not appertain in the pit of snakes."
He turned away from Harry then, who was clutching at the ground with numb fingers, shaking with sobs.
"But *why*, Draco," he pleaded, anger disintegrating into a desperate fear. "I *do* belong with you! You told me you loved me, you told me that. And I love you! I *love* you, Draco!"
The silver eyes glinted.
"Shut up, Potter," he said in a deadpan voice, sending Harry a cold glare. "Get out of here now before Blaize comes to his wits and tells the others."
"No! I won't leave you, Draco! You *love* me-"
"I'm *bored* of you!" Draco roared, rising from the bed and taking Harry roughly by the shoulders, shaking him. Harry sobbed, trying to cling to Draco's chest, but the Slytherin shoved him backwards to the floor, stumbling away as if Harry had burned him. "Get out. Get OUT!"
~*~
Harry sat in the midst of his peers as Dumbledore read aloud their names in alphabetical order from each house. He had already gone up and accepted his Wizard's diploma, grinning back at Hermione streaming tears of joy and Ron pumping his fist in the air. Seamus and Dean thumped him on the back when he returned, and Parvati had thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. Dismissing his usual patient annoyance with the girl, he hugged both her and Lavender tightly, whispering to all of his friends, "We did it!"
Dumbledore paused for the applause to stop as another student sat down. When he read out the next name, Harry flinched.
"Malfoy, Draco."
The Slytherin table of seventh years roared its approval as he shook hands with Dumbledore and the other staff members stiffly, only showing emotion to Snape, who he gave a weak smile acknowledging the man's proud look. When he strode back down the stairs, his eyes met Harry's only for a fleeting second. He paused suddenly in the middle of his step. Harry's breath left his chest in a whoosh.
Then the silver eyes moved over him and Draco sat down. Harry looked down at his hands as another name was read. That look had been as devoid of feeling as the ribboned deploma he held in his quaking hands.
The next day waking up from their graduating party in Hogsmeade, the seventh years bid a final farewell to their school. Students flooded teacher's classrooms, wishing them luck and thanking them for so many years of good times.
Harry had finished early after trying to tell Professor Snape that he didn't hate him and that he really was a good person. *That* turned out to be a big mistake and Harry had afterwards fled from the crowded halls to get a little bout of freedom on the lake. It was from up in the boughs of the weeping willow he saw Draco climbing into his family carriage beside his father.
The black cloak the pale boy wore billowed in the wind of the afternoon and the chill rose spots of color in his cheeks like rouge. His silver eyes one last time swept the turrets of the castle and he raised his hand in a last farewell before ducking into the carriage and riding off into the approaching sunset.
As he rocked back and forth inside the carriage beside his cold father, Draco blinked away the stinging tears threatening to spill over his lids. He had seen Harry watching him from the willow, and he had felt the intense pain again as was so the night he cast Harry from his life.
Moving his misting gaze to the tiny window of the carriage, Draco remembered the night that Harry had said the one thing that sent tendrils of fear snaking their way through Draco's heart:
'Nayve reminded me that we'll never have a family.'
A family.
The thought of such commitment, and the realization that Draco himself longed for such, had scared him worse than anything before. It was with the falling of those words that Draco realized how much he cared about Harry Potter. How much the boy meant, taped glasses and all. Those feelings that stirred inside him both hurt and made him.
They also reminded him of how much he could get hurt if Harry ever left him, so he escaped first.
The sun sunk beneath the burning red horizon and Draco's eyes reflected the scene in pools of crimson light dancing through his eyes. Those burning eyes turned downwards to regard a small object lying in his hands. He closed his fingers tightly around it and closed his eyes against the glare of the night, tears seeping past his lids to drip onto his hands, falling between the cracks of his rigid fingers to paint the object clutched in them with the sadness tearing his soul.....
..... There, a flash of white that could only be the top Harry had worn to the club. Draco hurried, skipping past people all bundled up in their warm clothes who gave the beautiful young man running in the rain momentary stares before forgetting him and trudging onwards.
The alley he slid into was dark and long. At the end there was a break between the brick walls and Draco would see a ghostly shadowed tree of the city park. He began to run, faster and faster, slipping and sliding over various items of garbage, doorsteps, and homeless people.
Harry was standing out in the middle of a wide clearing in the park, head bent back, neck arched beautifully as he drank in the rain. Draco slowed and stopped under the cover of a large tree, watching his partner and catching his breath as it stung with moistness through his heaving lungs.
Green eyes matching the grass sweeping out on either side of them turned up to find him out among the shadows. Harry turned violently away and started marching pointedly in the other direction, on the brink of breaking into a run by the way his legs were so stiff. Draco knew him well enough to realize that Harry did not want to be found at all.
Slender legs much stronger than they looked flew over sopping grass as the other pair pounded over the wet ground as well. Draco was faster than Harry though. He knew it, and so did Harry the way he ran so desperately.
Draco closed in on the darker boy quickly, leaning against the rain and shooting through it like a torpedo of flesh and blood. Harry glanced over his shoulder and threw himself forward for a burst of speed.
They were nearing the hill and Harry was running with wild abandon. Draco could hear his gasping breaths through the rain as well as see the puffs of steam. It wouldn't be long-
With a flying tackle rivaling those in the game of Rugby, Draco closed his arms around Harry's middle, pinning his pumping hands and slamming them both midway into the hill. There was a second of struggle before they slid off of the tiny plateau they had landed, and went tumbling together down the slope.
Draco landed heavily atop Harry, gaining his wits quick enough to the pin the other man's hands and hold them to the ground. Harry growled and twisted, fighting tooth and nail to get free, but Draco was as stone.
A gasping and terribly sweaty rainsoaked stone, but well enough the same.
Deciding that there was really no chance he was getting free without some kind of confrontation; either physical, mental, or both, Harry blinked rapidly against the rain and sent a withering glare at Draco, who had neatly straddling his waist and trying to catch his breath enough to speak.
"So what are you?" Harry started savagely, "Some kind of little whore for him, then?! Do you get on your fucking knees for him behind his desk at work? I was wondering why you kept going to that job. And what *job* was it? Blow, I presume!?"
"Harry-"
"Shut up and get off of me! I never want to see you again, you fucking bastard! I am not your doormat any more, Malfoy. Go find some fucking ponce like Quinne to fill your bed from now on, because I am DONE with you, Draco Malfoy!"
"Harry, please. You don't know what you're saying-"
"No! This time, I get to leave you. This time, you're the one who gets to feel what it's like to be left alone." Harry was getting hysterical now, shaking and sobbing so that his words were nearly inaudible mixed with the pounding of the rain and thunder overhead.
"Harry, please," Draco whispered, tears meeting rain drops as Harry shut his eyes and tried to yank his hands free, "If you would listen to me-"
"Why should I?" Harry snarled venomously.
Draco growled back and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Because I love you and only you, you daft twit! Quinne was drunk off his arse and if you would actually have taken time to come over and find out what was happening, you would've seen he was trying to bloody fuck me against my will!"
He leaned close to Harry's stricken face, voice becoming very quiet and laced with frustration; "When we were younger I may have been nothing but a miserable whore finding self worth in how many people I could get to scream my name and tell me they loved me, but there was one person I actually believed felt what I longed for. That person is you."
"Than why did you leave me," Harry whispered brokenly, tears still flooding out his eyes, "Why did you say those things in seventh year?"
"Because I was afraid of my love for you. I was afraid to admit I would never look at another the same way I look at you. I was absolutely terrified at the fact that by you smiling, my day would become worth going through. Can you even imagine feeling those emotions for the first time in your life and knowing that you had finally found that one person who you would give your heart to?"
Harry stared at him with wide eyes, lids twitching in the pelting rain. His mouth was open slightly, and Draco let go of his hands. They sat across from each other, and Harry looked up at the sky, then back down at Draco.
"I-"
"Don't," Draco said, smiling. "We're having a moment, just don't speak."
Then Harry fell laughing with relief into Draco's arms and they embraced under the rolling gray clouds of the raging storm.
A/N: THIS IS ***NOT*** THE END, blast it!!!! I know it's horribly guppy and all that, but I'm not done. You still have one more chapter that ties everything together. Then, and only then, we shall be done. *grin* So.... how did you guys like my bout of predictiveness, eh, EH? Was it way too cliched? Tell me, please, I'm too giggly right now to tell myself. *kiss* Au revior!
~*Villain*~