Chapter Five – to learn lessons unforeseen
Harry landed his broomstick on the platform, not seeing Draco already there leaning into the shadows.
"You came," said Draco quietly, with an air of relief.
Harry jumped. "You scared me!"
Draco smiled unapologetically. "Don't worry. We're safe. I put some warding charms around here, just to be on the safe side. Wish I'd known them when we were here before. The birds have already been, though." He gestured to the floor, which was nearly covered in flowers, and to some birds, sitting on a nearby branch.
"Why are the birds acting so confused?" asked Harry. They were twittering loudly and kept looking in the boys' direction.
"The warding charms make us invisible to humans as long as we're up here, and they're supposed to make us look strange to animals. I'm not quite sure how." Draco had a vision of them with their blue hair accompanied by green skin. Lots of green skin…
"So, have you decided to accept my offer of corruption?
Harry sat down, and Draco followed suit. "I'm not sure whether I like you at all," said Harry slowly.
Draco scowled. "I don't think I asked if you liked me. What I wanted to know is, are you attracted to me? And are you willing to do something about it?" Draco held his breath.
Harry looked hesitantly at him, wondering if he was really doing the right thing. "I am."
Draco, dizzy with elation, leant towards Harry to seal their agreement with a kiss.
"But wait!" said Harry. Draco frowned, displeased at having been thwarted, and Harry continued.
"I want your word that you're not going to use this against me later somehow."
Draco managed to look offended. "Do you think I'm the blackmailing sort?"
Harry couldn't answer that, so he kissed Draco instead.
"Hey, that was my move!" Draco quickly put a few more moves into effect before they could be stolen.
Harry felt strangely tight-skinned and light-headed. His hands seemed to move of their own accord over Draco's body. He thrilled at Draco's warm breath travelling down his neck, followed by sweet light kisses. He closed his eyes and let his hands see for him – Draco's sleek hair, the graceful curve of his neck, his strong back. Slipping his hands past the barrier of Draco's jeans, Harry smiled at the feel of silk. A quick peek confirmed the presence of cheerful green bears on the silver.
"Nice choice," he said quietly to Draco.
Draco smiled back. "I thought you'd enjoy that."
They both let themselves enjoy the rest of the night.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Later, they lay close to each other, distantly contemplating how out-of-character they were being. Draco held more than smoked a cigarette, and Harry nestled his head in the crook of Draco's arm and drew complicated twists in the smoke with his finger.
"So, how do you like being corrupted?"
Harry grinned and snatched Draco's cigarette from him. "It's not so bad." Studying the cigarette, he said, "I always hated the smell of these, but they really make you taste good." To emphasize his point, he ran his tongue across Draco's teeth before inhaling experimentally.
Draco laughed, thinking that Harry looked like a naughty kitten doing things like that. "You should know that anything can be charmed to make it good. Those aren't quite as nasty as normal Muggle cigarettes."
Harry studied Draco. "I'm not sure you could be made good." He blushed, thinking of some of the things that had just happened. "In some ways, at least."
"Well, then, we'll just have to make you bad, won't we?"
Harry looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean by that? I don't think I want to be bad."
Draco grinned and pinned Harry down on the floor. "Oh, you do. You'll see."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Bad boy lesson number one," said Draco tensely. "No apologies. Let's try this again." He walked away from Harry, then toward him again, bumping his shoulder obviously into Harry's. "Watch where you're going!"
"Sorry!" replied Harry automatically, and buried his red face in his hands when Draco glared at him again. "I can't help it! I'm so-"
Draco shut him up with a playfully angry kiss. "You're going to stop apologizing like a frightened rat if I have to duct tape your mouth shut."
Harry winked at him. "Oh, you wouldn't do that."
"I would so," lied Draco. "Again!"
Finally Harry found what it was like to keep his repentance in the right place, and the boys moved on to their next order of business.
Actually, first they snogged for a while, then they moved on.
Draco had decided that Harry was a prime candidate for corruption of a mild sort, and though Harry tried to convince him that he was okay with being a good boy, ultimately Draco knew more about that sort of thing. Also, Harry found that he had a hard time protesting when there were wildly attractive blue-haired boys on his lap.
So here they were in an empty classroom, hiding from their curious friends, and teaching Harry to walk on the wild side.
"Good start, I think. What do you say we do a field trip?"
"A field trip?" Harry was puzzled. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"What do we have on Tuesday, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions? I think they won't miss us much. I think you could learn a lot more in London."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They had an interesting lunch at a small Mexican restaurant. Neither of them had ever had Mexican before, and didn't know what it actually was, so they chose their food randomly from the menu.
"Here, taste this," said Harry, pushing a small bowl of salsa toward Draco. Draco sampled it curiously, then his eyes went wide and he grabbed for his glass of water. He only succeeded in knocking it over, so he snatched Harry's and downed most of it.
"What the hell IS that?" he gasped.
"I think it's got some pepper called habañero," said Harry, managing to be guiltless and smug at the same time. "Don't you like it?"
Draco grinned. "I hate it. Good going, Potter. That's worth about six points."
"There are points?"
"Well, I guess there are now. I'd say you have… maybe, twenty-three. Once you get fifty, you can go to Disney World."
"Oh, boy. Almost halfway there. If I sell cookies to all the Hufflepuffs, can I get a bike too?"
"Twenty-four now, for your gratuitous use of sarcasm in countering sarcasm."
"Aww, I'm only up to twenty-four. And it's already Tuesday."
"Okay, twenty-five. But just because I like you."
Harry smiled and looked suddenly, to Draco, very young, and also older than he had a right to look. Draco almost felt bad for playing with him like this – almost.
"Come on, let's go," he said suddenly. He stood up and walked toward the door.
Rushing after him, Harry hissed, "Draco! The check…"
"Screw the check. We don't live in London, they won't find us."
Harry sighed and dropped some money on the table before running out the door after Draco.
"That loses you five points, you know."
"Screw the points, what's wrong with you all of a sudden?"
Draco spotted an scratched old telephone booth, covered four feet up in annoying advertisements. Perfect.
"You know how to use a Muggle telephone?" he asked Harry.
"Of course I do. But why – "
Draco pulled Harry into the booth. "Then pick it up."
Confused, Harry obeyed. "Who are we calling?"
"Oh, but we're not," said Draco. He grinned sinfully, then proceeded to drop to his knees and blow Harry's mind in a way no Gryffindor had ever seen.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ten points, for your total lack of protest," said Draco.
Harry looked surprised. "I could have protested?"
"It wouldn't have done you any good." Draco, who had been leaning against a brick building, put his weight back on his feet and started walking. Harry followed, wondering exactly why he seemed to be always following Draco.
"Eh, that's what I thought. Not that I was considering it, mind you."
"You looked terrified whenever somebody walked by, Harry. They must've thought you had seven dead koalas."
"Koalas?!" He was pretty sure that wasn't what Draco had meant.
"Yeah, aren't they koalas? The little tree-bear things, that Hermione thinks are so cute?"
Harry wasn't sure that cleared it up. "I don't have any koalas… in fact, nobody has any koalas. They don't even live in this part of the world. And I think they bite."
"Well, I bite, and people like me." In Draco's world, this summed up everything.
"Yeah, but you can do a lot of things I don't want to think about koalas doing." Harry grabbed Draco's sleeve to stop him, and, on a whim, kissed him until people began to stare. Draco made no move to get away.
"Raunchy little thing, aren't you?" he murmured. Harry bit Draco's lip to quiet him.
"You like me anyway," Harry murmured back.
"I think I do," agreed Draco, a bit surprised.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
