Notes from the author: I'm very sorry this has taken so long in coming, though hopefully I will get the next chapter out very quickly. I hope you like this chapter, though. It was very fun to write and it's very pleasantly slashy in a beautiful way. Not too smutty, though, that comes later.

Blushing Virgin Draco?

"Harry…Harry…Haaarrrry. Are you awake?"

Though I heard the sweet whispers it was the finger brushing lightly along the bridge of my nose that finally made me open my eyes. I will always remember the sight that greeted me as I woke that morning. Draco leaning over me with the most beautiful smile across his face. The warm morning sun played across the fine strands of silvery hair that fell over his forehead, making him appear to glow. He looked like an angel watching over me. I'd never seen him looking so beautiful, so happy, so carefree and innocent.

Had anyone ever seen this side of Draco before?

I reached my hand up to brush the hair away from his eyes which sparkled back at me. As I tucked the hair behind his ear I placed my hand around the back of his neck, drawing him down towards me, ridding us of all distance between our lips. Even as I kissed him I could feel him smiling. I marveled at the fact that every time I was with Draco it was an entirely new experience. He seemed to constantly change, constantly surprising and delighting me. I made a mental note that I really liked morning Draco.

"Have you been watching me sleep?" I asked, parting our lips only, not the space between us.

"Yes, you're beautiful when you sleep. Did you know that?"

"No I wasn't aware of that." I laughed. "Though oddly enough, I recall thinking that you were quite beautiful yourself when you slept."

"You were watching me sleep last night?"

"No, last week, when you were sleeping in my bed."

"You really thought that? Last week, you thought I was beautiful?"

"Yes, though I felt really guilty for thinking so. I mean, you were lying there so vulnerable with bruises all over and I was checking you out."

"Well I suppose I ought to be sort of upset that you would check me out in such a state, but honestly, I find it rather flattering. I mean, not too many people would consider me to be at all nice to look at with a black eye."

I placed my hand on his face, gently rubbing my thumb below his eye where last week it had been bruised and swollen.

"You know I actually cried," I said absently as if I only remembered it just then. "When I was healing you, I cried. I thought that it was awful that anyone would do anything to harm someone as beautiful as you. It's funny, I didn't think that much of it at the time. I mean it was just a passing thought, really. I just took it for granted that I found you beautiful, though I'd never thought that about any other boy. But somehow, it's just the most natural thing in the world for me to find you beautiful, as if it were something I always knew."

"I remember the first time I thought you were beautiful. We were eleven and you walked into Madame Maulkin's Dress Shop. I had no idea who you were at the time, but I remember thinking of you as the beautiful boy whose clothes were too big for him."

"Really? When we were eleven?"

"Yeah, isn't that crazy? When we were on the train and I learned who you were I was shocked that The-Boy-Who-Lived was really The-Beautiful-Boy-Whose-Clothes-Were-Too-Big."

"That's a really weird story, you know that don't you?"

"Okay, but no weirder than you crying over a few scars."

"Hmmm, you know it just occurred to me that we both have scars."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe we should start a club."

"All right, but you and I get to be the only members."

"You know I rather like your scar." I felt Draco run a finger along the jagged line of my scar, then firmly press his lips onto it.

"That kind of tickles! No one's ever touched my scar before, it feels weird."

"You don't mind do you? I'd understand completely if it made you uncomfortable."

"No, I don't mind you touching it, though I might mind if it were someone else. You touching it makes it seem special, like an intimate gesture that's unique to you."

"Good," Draco said, kissing my scar again, "'cause I rather like kissing you there. And you know what's really funny? Last night when you kissed my scars, I really did like it. I didn't think I would, I've always been self conscious about them. You're actually the only other person to have seen me naked, I never wanted anyone to see my scars before now."

"Wow, that makes me rather special, then. Just think, I must be the luckiest person in the world to have been chosen to see the world's most beautiful boy's naked body!"

"Stop it, you're making me blush."

"No, I like it when you blush," I said, kissing his pink cheeks lightly , then his pink lips significantly deeper.

"Mmm, maybe I'll have to blush more often then if that's the reward I get."

"Do, 'cause I'm rather fond of Blushing Virgin Draco."

"Hey, who said anything about me being a virgin?"

"You did, silly. You said that I'm the only person you let see you naked."

"Well… I could have had sex with my clothes on!"

"Yes, but have you actually?"

"No," he said blushing again. "This whole truth telling thing really sucks, you know."

"Hey, I'm not forcing the truth out of you."

"Makes no difference, I don't think I could lie to you if I wanted to. It's very frustrating."

I just laughed and kissed him again, drawing him even closer, allowing him to share the pillow my head was on. We lay there, holding each other tight and grinning at each other like fools.

"Harry, I want you to know that I have honestly never been as happy as I am right now. You know I've always hated mornings, I'd always be grumpy and complain. Everyone knew to avoid me in the mornings. But waking up next to you makes me wish that it were always morning. God I sound like a dork, just listen to me! I blame you entirely, you know."

"That's all right, you make me feel like a dork too, so you're at least not alone."

"Well, I guess I'd rather be a dork with you any day than go on being cool all by myself."

"What!? I hope this isn't goodbye all together to Cool Draco! I was rather looking forward to having Cool Draco as a boyfriend."

"If you insist I can always bring Cool Draco out of the closet for special occasions."

"Oh God, coming out of the closet! Isn't that what were supposed to be doing today at breakfast?"

"You're right, I almost forgot, I can't believe it! What time is it?"

"Um…breakfast starts in ten minutes, but if we plan on arriving fashionably late we still have time to get dressed."

We both reluctantly got out of bed.

"Oh God you're gorgeous," I said nearly dumbstruck as I watched Draco walk naked across the room. A pale blush played across his cheeks as he glanced back at me, smiling shyly. I did love making him blush. It was so unreal that I of all people could shatter Draco's usual confidant stature.

As reward for his blush I grabbed him and kissed him as I had earlier, once on each cheek, and then lingeringly on the mouth.

"You were blushing again," I explained.

"Well you had better stop making me because I cannot go front of the whole school as Blushing Virgin Draco! So let me go get dressed."

"All right, then, for the sake of Smolderingly Sexy Draco. Off you go then," I said, teasingly as I slapped him on the bottom. His blush only increased in intensity, but I chose not to mention it for the sake of his dignity, which I feared might shatter all together if I pushed him too far. Secretly, though, I relished once again in the fact that I could affect Draco Malfoy to such a degree. I tried not to get a big head about it, but it was frightfully difficult. Instead I tried to focus on the task of getting dressed.

"Oh! I hadn't thought about it, but unless I get back to my dorm room I'm going to have to go out there in my school robes from yesterday. Do you mind awfully if I go get a change of clothes?"

"Well… I guess not, but…wait! Can I dress you please?"

"I can't wear your clothes."

"Why not, silly? We're the same size and I have an outfit that will look perfect on you. Besides I left wearing your clothes last time."

"Hey, how'd you know that, didn't my transfiguration work properly on the crest?"

"Oh yeah, it's still working as far as I know, it's just that they smell like you."

"Funny, I had never thought of that. What do I smell like, by the way?"

"I don't know, you smell like…" he came up and buried his nose in my neck, inhaling deeply "You just smell like you," he finally decreed, smiling up at me. "You don't mind if I keep them do you? They're my favorite."

"No I don't mind, you can keep them in exchange for one everyday set of clothing for me."

"Thanks," he said, kissing me lightly before retreating into the closet.

"Just don't expect me to wear anything too over the top," I warned.


"I can't believe you don't trust me," Draco pretended to sound hurt.

"Yeah, well last time I let someone dress me I got shoved into leather pants and a glitter covered shirt."

A burst of laughter came from the closet.

"Who did that to you?"

"Seamus Finnigan."

"Oh, well that crazy leprechaun probably wrote the book on being a flamer."

"What! Seamus is gay? How did you know that?"

Draco stuck a very shocked head out of the closet and looked at me as if I'd gone completely barking mad.

"You didn't know? What, do you live under a rock or something?"

"Okay, so I don't pay that much attention to who my former room mates are sleeping with," I said in my own pathetic defense. "I still want to know how you know about Seamus, though."

"Well, besides the fact that he practically has flamer tattooed across his forehead, I know for quite a few reasons. For one, he used to be seeing my former room mate, Blaize. For two he's tried on numerous occasions to get into my pants. And for three, from what I understand, he's practically wetting himself over your friend Weasley."

"What!? You don't mean that…" but I didn't get any further with that discussion because at that moment Draco came out of the closet fully dressed and holding a set of clothes for me.

"What were you going to say," Draco asked casually.

I tried to remember what we had just been talking about, but the sight of Draco totally made me loose my focus. It made no sense to me at all, really, I mean I had seen him naked before, but now Draco made me blush. He was wearing a pair of grey pinstripe trousers that clung snugly to his hips and a black tight fitting shirt. It wasn't so much the outfit, but Draco in the outfit. It was amazing to see him in smoldering sexy mode. As much as I truly did adore Blushing Virgin Draco, this was where he was truly in his element. This Draco took my breath away and made me wonder how I got to be so lucky.

"Cat got your tongue, Harry?" he asked with his trademark smirk, but then he gave me a reassuring kiss, for which I was very glad. Being the boyfriend of Smolderingly Sexy Draco was going to take some getting used to.

"Here, I picked out an outfit for you, I thought you'd probably feel more comfortable in this than some of my other clothes."

"Jeans and a white T-shirt?" I asked skeptically . "I would have expected something a tad more stylish coming from your closet. I didn't even think you owned jeans."

"They have their purpose, but if you like, I do own leather pants."

"No!…Thank you, the jeans are fine," I said slipping into them. "Um… I'm not sure these really fit." I had the clothes on and was looking at myself in the mirror, I got them on all right, but they fit so snugly that they really didn't leave anything up to the imagination.

"They look all right to me," Draco said, eyeing me up and down with a grin.

"You want me to go in front of all the school wearing this?"

"Oh yeah! If I'm going to show you off to the whole school I want to show you off at your very best and believe me, you look hot!"

"Whatever," I said shaking my head in disbelief.

"Well, come on then, we don't want to miss breakfast all together," he said slipping his hand into my back pocket and leading me to the door.

"Shouldn't I put on my invisibility cloak if I'm going to go through the Slytherin commons room?"

"Not for what we're doing today, Baby-Cakes!" Draco playfully shoved me out of the door.

"You know," I said as we made our way to the Great Hall, "I find it truly amazing that you can be both Blushing Virgin Draco and Exhibitionist Draco."

"I don't think that wanting to prove my feelings for you exactly makes me and exhibitionist, and it's not like I'm going in front of the school naked, so I don't see what Blushing Virgin Draco has to do with it at all."

"So you're saying that you just have a problem with people seeing you naked?"

Draco said nothing to this, but gave me a mock glare instead. I could see that he was blushing, though. It wasn't until that point that I realized that Draco really did have issues about being seen naked. I counted myself truly blessed that Draco felt I was worthy of such a gift. I silently vowed not to tease him about it again. To seal my vow I leaned over and kissed him.

"Thank you," he whispered into my mouth and kissed me back.

"For what?"

"For being you, for being here with me, for understanding me when I need you to, for being willing to go through what we're about to do."

"Being here by your side is the easy part, right now it's not being by your side that worries me. I know that we've been together for such a short amount of time, but I honestly feel as if up to this point in my life I've been living in agony, just because you weren't there next to me. Being next to you makes me feel as though I truly belong somewhere. I've never felt like that before. My whole life I've been searching for someone to connect to, some sort of family that I knew would always be there for me. I really feel as though you are exactly what I've been looking for this whole time."

"I know what you mean, except that I never bothered searching. I just took it for granted that I would never feel anything like this, I didn't even know it was possible."

"We sound like two pathetic lonely boys, don't we?"

"Not lonely anymore, though," Draco said seriously, taking hold of my head in between his two hands. "I swear that I will always be there for you, Harry. There is not a being in hell that could drag me from your side, not even Voldermort himself could keep me away from you."

"That's really saying something, but I swear to the same with all my heart. You will forevermore be my reason for living and I swear I will hold to you as I would hold to my own life." The two of us sealed our oaths with a kiss. "I feel as though there's nothing I couldn't do as long as you were by my side."

"Good, 'cause here we are." He pointed at the entrance to the Great Hall. "Are you ready?"

I nodded. "For anything. I'm so crazy about you I think I would consent to having sex on the head table if you asked me to right now."

"Don't worry about that, I have no intentions of loosing my virginity in front of the Headmaster. All I ask is a kiss."

"It sounds so simple now. Last night I thought I'd be more nervous," I said, kissing him.

"Well right now we're standing alone in the corridor. We do actually have to do that standing in front of the whole school."

"Okay, then let's go."

I pushed the door open so that we could both pass through into the Great Hall. I felt Draco's arm link around my waist and I had barely a second to look out across the school before Draco pulled me tight across his body. At first he just smiled at me. It was the most beautiful adoration-filled smile I'm sure anyone had ever seen. A smile which I couldn't help but more than adequately reciprocate as I reached up to cup Draco's face with my hand. We paused a while like that, but then in an split second our lips met in our most searing, passionate kiss yet.

I think it was the fact that this kiss meant so much that made it so different. That we could and would kiss in front of the entire school seemed to be our final test, the proof that our words truly meant something. I soon forgot about everything save the feel of Draco against me. I did not notice the Gryffendor girl scream when his tongue brushed over my lips and slipped into my mouth. I did not hear the Slytherin boy cry out "Holy Fuck!" when Draco grabbed my ass, pulling me even closer. I did not notice the whole school go into uproar when I started rubbing my hips up against Draco, making him and I moan at the delicious friction. All I noticed was lips, tongues, fingers, arms, heat, passion, and intensity. All I noticed was Draco, nothing else mattered at that moment.

When we finally stopped kissing, our hearts racing, our breathing heavy, we simply smiled at each other exultantly with a rush of euphoria we had never known before.

"I love you so much," Draco whispered intensely.

I felt as though my heart would burst. Draco really did love me. It had been implied of course, but the fact that he now actually voiced the sentiment and in front of all these people was almost overwhelming.

"And I love you," I said having to fight away the pressing urge to cry. I could see by the look on Draco's face that he was that close to tears as well. "You'd better tell a joke quick. Snogging in front of the school is one thing, but letting them see us cry is something completely different."

It was at that moment that our thoughts finally returned to the rest of the school. What seemed odd at this point, though, was the complete silence that greeted us. We turned our faces away from each other and the sight that greeted us was the entire school staring open mouthed at us.

"What!?" Draco scoffed in full Slytherin mode. "You've never seen two guys kiss before?"

I laughed, finally I got one of Draco's jokes! No one else laughed, though.

"Hmm, looks like no one's got a sense of humor today," I pointed out. "Who cares about them, though. Draco, would you care to join me for breakfast?"

"I'd love to, Harry," he said, sliding his hand into mine allowing me to lead him.

As we headed towards the Gryffendor table not an eye left us. The expressions all varied, of course. Some looked as though they had murderous intentions for one or another of us. Others looked as though they were sure we were escapees from St. Mungo's insanity ward. The Huffelpuffs for the most part all looked completely scandalized. Every once in a while there was a truly amused expression. These were all to be expected. What was not expected, though, was seeing Hermione looking absolutely overjoyed. Ron, of course, looked murderous.

"Sorry for being so late, is it all right if we join you?"

"Yes" and "no" were spoken in unison.

"Hmm, well how about Draco and I just go ahead and sit here anyway, 'cause I'm starving. Draco?" I said, pulling up a chair for him.

"Thank you Harry" Draco took the proffered chair, sitting down next to a bewildered Nevil Longbottom. I then proceeded to sit between Draco and a furious Ron.

"I think," spat Ron, "that you had either explain yourself or you and that piece of filth can leave."

I took a deep breath.

Yep, this is definitely the hard part

I felt Draco give my hand a comforting squeeze under the table. I was grateful for the encouragement.

"I will understand, Ron, If you cannot forgive Draco for his past actions. I do expect you, however, to accept the fact that I have. I would hope furthermore that you could try to understand that Draco makes me happy. He and I have an understanding. The feelings he and I share for each other are by no means new today, but they are newly discovered. I love him, Ron, very deeply, and he loves me. Neither of us has the least intentions of leaving the other, ever." I emphasized the last word in reference to the oaths Draco and I had just sworn to in the corridor.

Even after I finished talking Ron remained deathly quiet, simply glaring.

"Can you say something, please Ron?"

"I think," Ron said in a surprisingly calm voice, "that I'm going to kill myself." Having said that Ron stood up sharply and walked out of the Great Hall. For the first time since we entered, all the eyes were off of Draco and I as they all watched Ron leave. No one moved to go after him, however.

After a moment of continued silence Seamus looked around and said, "I think I'll just go make sure that he doesn't actually kill himself, excuse me." He got up and calmly walked over to the door at which point he set off at a run to find Ron.

At that point the silence which had for so long settled on the Great Hall finally dissipated as every one began animatedly discussing the scene they had just witnessed.

"He isn't really going to try and kill himself because of us is he?" Draco whispered in my ear with a hint of concern.

"No, he's probably just trying to get attention," Hermione answered, having heard the question and shifted into the seat left by Ron. "He threatened to do the same thing when I refused to go out with him. By the way, I'm very glad that you two finally figured it out."

"Excuse me?" Draco said, leaning around me to look Hermione in the face. "Figured what out exactly?"

"Well I very well may have been among the very few people to notice, but both of you have been mooning all week," she said matter-of-factly.

"All right, I have two things to say to that. One: I do not moon. And two: you knew?"

"Yes, Draco (I can call you that can't I?) you do moon (in your own special way albeit) and yes I did know. That is to say that I had my very strong suspicions which were increased when Harry went to meet you last night and never came back and which were confirmed just now by your brilliant full frontal snogging and ass grabbing display."

"So you're all right with the fact that your best friend is in love with a Slytherin?"

Hermione just gave us a odd grin and said, "love has been found in far stranger places."

The rest of breakfast passed quite well once Ron left and any odd glances or comments we received were strictly ignored. Very little conversation was actually held, mostly because my fellow Gryffendors were too embarrassed to ask Draco and I what was truly on their minds. Draco played his part in whatever conversation was sent our way, though. I could tell that deep down inside he would have preferred to be off somewhere alone with me, in truth it was what I wanted as well. The whole point of our actions that morning, however, were that if Draco and I were as truly serious about each other as we claimed, we had to find a way of existing in public with each other. It wasn't enough that we accepted each other, the rest of the world had to accept us as well.

For the most part, though, Draco and I could care less where we were or what was going on around us. We had just declared our love for each other in front of the whole school and there wasn't a thing in the world that could bring us down from that high. If Voldermort appeared in front of us I'm pretty sure we would have laughed in his face and told him sod off. We felt as though we were an unstoppable force. We were in love and that was that, heaven help anyone who tried to get in our way.