A/N: There is a steamier version available of this chapter. If your interested; just follow the same path as I told you in chapter 7. (By the way; Just telling this to the people who like to keep tabs on me that I'll be posting a new fic there somewhere this week which I'm not going to be posting here. I know, I know: this is shameless self promotion *blushes*).
Thanks to:
Ronslilprincess: I am God?!? This really could go to a girl's head, you know.
Virginia C. Weasley: Yes, Ron can be quite dense. But that's why we love him, right? To answer your question; I was raised in Dutch, but my country has three official languages (Dutch, French and German) which we all have to know (plus English) if we ever want to get a decent job. By the way: I suck at French and German! *GAH!* I credit my knowledge of the English language to television.
diske: Why do you always fly away? Are you superman? ;)
*Malfoys_girl04*: I'm glad you liked it. I know it's a bit different from the other chapters, but I figured: they're human, they're teenagers and this whole thing is new and exiting to them. They'd probably want to explore it. It would be kind of forced if I ignored the sex-part now wouldn't it?
GeminiEmerald: It's hard not to use puns if you come up with one isn't it? ;)
Belle: *whispers* He's not going to 'tell'... (not saying any more ;))
Slasherbabe: Aw, glad I could cheer you up.
Fantasy101: Nice to see you again. About the kissing thing you asked in chapter 5: Superman can fly, Wolverine has his healing-powers and Spiderman has his web-fluid. But Harry Potter has the best powers of all: mysterious kissing-powers. ;) And who needs shoelaces anyway? I prefer sandals.
passionwriter4life: Aw, thanks for not laughing.
Gizachick: Nope, just light. Just the way I like it.
From some reviews I gather that not everyone really gets this: THE STORY IS AMOST FINISHED! Chapter 9 is the last chapter! Sorry dears. But before that... some more fluff:
Chapter 8
'I feel all warm and fluffy. Like being buried in a pile of cotton balls. Not that I've ever been buried into a pile of cotton balls, so I can't know for sure what being buried in a pile of cotton balls would feel like. If I open my eyes, would I find myself being buried in a pile of cotton balls? Lets see... '
As Harry woke up he found himself cuddled up against Draco's warm body. No cotton balls in sight. He smiled as he felt his lover's heart beating against his chest. He couldn't resist nuzzling Draco's neck a little. He took a deep breath as he did this; Draco's scent was absolutely intoxicating. The Slytherin started stirring against him, probably awoken by his subtle movements.
"Morning lover" Harry whispered.
"'Lover'? Hmm. I like the sound of that." Draco said, his voice still hoarse from sleep. An uncharacteristic serene expression graced his facial features.
"If you don't like it, I could always call you my girlfriend" Harry suggested. Draco's atypical peaceful look turned into a familiar affronted glare.
"Excuse me!? If anyone here is the girlfriend it is you!"
"You're pretty like a girl" Harry mocked. "The role would suit you best".
"Who was bottom again?" Draco fake-asked.
"That was only last night" Harry pointed out. "I'm not always going to be bottom".
"Oh, yes you are!"
"You even asked me if I wanted to be top!" Harry stated.
"I was just being polite".
"Sure you were. Next time, I'm top!" Harry declared.
"We'll see about that"
"Wanna wrestle for it?" Harry asked teasingly.
"Hell yes" Draco growled as he flung himself at his boyfriend. They playfully wrestled with each other, totally ruffling up the bed sheets.
"Why Mister Malfoy, are you ticklish?" Harry asked as he got an unfamiliar reaction from his bed-partner as he pinched him at his sides.
"No!" Draco yelled just a little to fervent to be true.
"I do believe you are" Harry said as he started tickling Draco all over his stomach. Draco's muscles clamped together and he started squirming all over. Harry took the opportunity to get the upper hand and straddled Draco's naked body.
"Do you give in?"
"NO"
Harry resumed tickling him some more.
"Do you give in?" he asked the panting boy again.
No reply.
"Do you, or do you not, give in?" Harry asked with seeming authority as he tickled Draco mercilessly while trying to keep a straight face.
"I give in!" Draco exclaimed, not able to bare the torture any longer.
Harry stopped tickling, gave Draco a light peck on his lips and nuzzled his nose.
"I win!"
"Don't I know it" Draco grunted. He looked up into those familiar green orbs hovering above him. Harry smiled at him. The same smile Draco saw two weeks ago. The same openness and vulnerability radiating from it as if Harry had lowered his shields. He smiled as he realised that this definitely was the same person who gave him that kiss under the tree that made his insides go to mush.
"I was right that day" Draco thought, looking back on his thoughts. "He's neither 'handsome' nor 'especially fetching'. He's just plain beautiful".
Harry moved his hand up and caressed some of Draco's hair out of his face.
"What did I tell you about touching other men's hair?" Draco said bossily.
Harry laughed.
"That it's girly" he said. "But we've already established that you're the girl in this relationship. So it doesn't really matter, does it".
Draco tried to flip Harry off of him, but Harry wouldn't have it. He grinded his hips against Draco's pelvis, making the boy gasp and stop his attempt to take over.
"What are you going to do?" Harry asked playfully. "You'll pounce on me? That reminds me. If somehow one of us manages to nock the other up I'll explain the birds and the bees to our precious offspring."
"What? Was I no good?" Draco asked. "I thought I did rather well under the circumstances".
"Honestly, it was kind of embarrassing".
"Me? Embarrassing? This coming from the person who two weeks ago asked me what a shag was!"
"You were the one who brought it up" Harry said as he dropped himself from Draco's body and sprawled himself next to him. "Would you rather have had me ask you for a demonstration instead of an explanation?".
"That would have been a tad more pleasant" he admitted.
Harry cocked an eyebrow.
"A tad?"
Draco grinned to let Harry know he was just teasing.
"That reminds me" Draco said, remembering something. "how did you know where the Slytherin-dungeon was?"
Harry pondered if he should tell Draco this little piece of information. Harry wasn't sure if it was the smartest thing to tell him this, but he really didn't want to keep any secrets from Draco.
"Dobby showed me" Harry admitted.
"Dobby..." Draco pondered, thinking the name sounded familiar. "Dobby?! Our old House Elf?"
"Yes, Dumbledore hired him".
"Since when?"
"After our second year. Almost five years ago"
"Really?"
Harry frowned.
"I didn't think you'd care so much about House Elves. If you want I can talk Hermione into letting you join SPEW".
"Spew?" Draco asked confusedly.
"No, SPEW!" Harry corrected. "It's... oh who cares!". He tilted his head and enveloped Draco in a loving kiss. Those full lips were just begging for some attention. After a few more rounds of passionate snogging they decided to get out of bed. As they were getting dressed Harry couldn't help himself from stealing glances at Draco's naked, semi-naked and clothed body. Clothes did his body no justice, he decided. Only as they made their way to leave the bedroom Harry noticed how much the room represented Malfoy. It was clean, comfortable and self-confident enough not to need any fancy trinkets to smarten things up. Not like his room back at he Dursley's which was always a complete mess and packed with Dudley's old junk. Harry thought he might try to keep it tidy from now on. He kind of liked it this way.
They left the bedroom and walked into the common room. Before they even partially crossed the space between the bedroom and the portrait hole Draco pulled Harry close and planted another adoring kiss on him.
"Can't keep your hands of me can you?" Harry asked playfully.
"Didn't you get the memo?" Draco asked, kissing Harry's nose. "You're now officially The-Boy-Toy-Who-Lived"
Harry chuckled. He leaned down slightly and brushed his lips against Draco's. Draco captured them with his mouth, eagerly kissing him as if they hadn't kissed for a month. Their eyes flew open when they heard a gasp that was from neither of the two of them. They broke apart, looked towards the source of the sound and saw Hermione gazing at them wide eyed while covering her mouth with both her hands. They'd forgotten about her. She was Head-Girl this year and had to share the common room with Draco.
"I though you said she knew about us?" Draco asked, frowning.
"She does" Harry said. "Hermione, you all right?"
Hermione slowly let her hands sink from her face and swallowed nervously, a blush clearly spreading on her cheeks.
"I... I just... I..." she stuttered, looking at the floor.
Draco chuckled in seeming understanding.
"I think Miss Head Girl found it surprising how much she enjoyed seeing two gorgeous men snogging".
Hermione blushed even more vigorously.
"Is that it?" Harry asked.
"Well can you blame me?!" Hermione blurted out, her face turning red like a beet.
Harry smiled. He feared she'd be grossed out or something. Lots of people would be.
"No, we can't" Draco answered as he gently grabbed Harry's face between his hands. "I could snog this pretty face all day long". Draco leaned in and planted a possessive kiss on Harry's lips. It was probably just to tease Hermione, but Harry didn't care and enjoyed the kiss.
"Merlin, I'm never going to get used to this" Hermione groaned as she left the common room.
"I think Weasley is going to have an active morning" Draco grinned as he broke their kiss.
"You do know they're not really together do you?"
Draco seemed genuinely surprised by that.
"They're not? Well, then they're just dense" he huffed as he entwined his hand with Harry's and pulled him along towards the portrait hole. "Good thing we're not".
"Good thing" Harry answered smilingly.
*
Harry sat himself down at a somewhat secluded part of the breakfast table where Hermione was already seated.
"So? How was it?" Hermione asked eagerly. She figured they could talk about this since no one was in earshot and Ron still hadn't arrived.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, not believing his bookish friend just asked him that question.
"Come on! You know you need to talk to someone about this!"
"Do I?"
"You do" Hermione declared.
"Why do you want to know so badly?"
"To compensate for my own lack of a sex-life. Now spill it! On a scale from one to ten, how much would you rate it?"
Harry considered. Next to Hermione he couldn't even tell anyone he was with Draco. And having just had his first sexual experience, he figured he really could use a talk about this.
"Eleven" he answered.
"Whoa! Really?"
Harry nodded, a light blush spreading across his cheeks.
"Waw. That's good news. I thought all first times were painful, awkward and, er... short-lived".
"Well, there was a bit of pain at first, but it definitely wasn't awkward or short-lived". He smiled as he recalled some details from the previous night.
"Ah! So you were bottom then?" Hermione grinned.
"Shut up!" Harry said, blushing madly.
Hermione beamed.
"I knew Malfoy somehow had to put some of that aggressiveness into good use" she mused. "Pity I can't benefit from it".
Harry choked in his tea. Hermione blushed as she realised what she just said.
"Alright, that came out totally wrong" she giggled embarrassedly. "You know what I meant".
She leaned in and started talking in a scheming tone of voice.
"So, does the high and mighty Slytherin look as spiffy in his birthday suit as he does with his clothes on?".
"Hermione, really..."
Hermione gave him a pleading look. Harry sighed and leaned over the table, mimicking Hermione's scheming tone of voice.
"If everyone looked as good as he does, clothing should be outlawed" Harry whispered.
Hermione gasped.
"So he has that obnoxiously perfect skin all over?"
Harry nodded.
"Damn!" Hermione exclaimed. It wasn't clear if it was from annoyance or from admiration.
"People are going to notice you know" she said offhandedly after a few seconds of silence.
"How? Did the big tattoo on my forehead reading "VIRGIN" come off?" he asked sarcastically, rubbing his forehead.
"No. There are other stuff. For instance..." She looked around to make sure no one was looking in their direction; then she pulled down Harry's collar to expose several love bites on his neck.
"You look like you've been moulded by a vampire with a crush. No offence Harry, but it's quite obvious you have someone. And... you reek of Malfoy"
"I do?" Harry asked, trying to sniff himself unnoticeably.
"You do!"
"How do you know what Draco smells like?" Harry enquired.
"I've been sharing a dorm and a bathroom with him for the entire year" Hermione sighed with light annoyance. "Trust me; I know what the boy smells like".
Their conversation was cut short when Ron walked in and joined them for breakfast. This gave Harry time to think. Hermione was right; eventually people were going to notice something. But did he even still want to hide their relationship? He looked over at Draco who was sitting at the Slytherin table. Did Draco still want to?
*
"Draco,"
"Hmm..."
"Draco?"
Draco groaned.
"Draco, hold on for a second. I need to talk to you about something".
"What is it?" Draco asked somewhat annoyed as he reluctantly unhooked his lips from
Harry's neck.
"Have you given any thought about..." Harry said as he fidgeted awkwardly on Draco's bed where they were both currently sitting on. "You know... coming out?"
"Of course I did."
"And?"
"Well, I'm a Slytherin. We're sneaky, resourceful, cunning and ambitious. Telling the world I'm gay wouldn't be a smart thing if I want to achieve my goals in life. And I'm quick-witted enough get away with it if I didn't."
Harry could swear he could hear the thump of his heart plummeting to the floor.
"But, I'm also a Malfoy and I'd be damned if I'm going to hide something about myself I'm not remotely ashamed of just to please a bunch of stupid bigots not worthy of my attention."
"So..."
"So, I'm game if you're game".
"What about your parents?" Harry asked, remembering their conversation last week.
"To Hell with them. And my father is in Azkaban. What's he going to do? So are you game or not?"
Harry beamed.
"I'm game."
"Good. Because I want to put you on a pedestal, declare that you're mine, and let it be known that anyone who dares to put a hand on you loses it."
"I don't know if I should feel flattered or disturbed."
"Whatever gets you going," Draco said suggestively as he raised his head, searching for Harry's lips. He leaned forward to kiss his lover and Harry welcomed it with his own. Their lips opened and closed and made way for each other's tongues. Lips wetting at the flavouring nature of the kiss. They licked, sucked and nipped at each other's lips without the urge to take a break. Draco marvelled at how this all felt. He had been with girls in the past and he knew he'd liked it at the time. So why was being with Harry so different? Why was it ten times better? Was it because it was with a man, or because it was with Harry? Just how much did he feel for him? Did he dare to voice the L-word? No! It couldn't possibly be.
"Alright there, my Dragon?" Harry asked, feeling Draco tensing up.
Draco smiled at Harry calling him that.
"I'm just fine," he answered, wrapping an arm around Harry's waist, seeking his lips again.
*
The next morning as Harry and Draco entered the common room to leave for breakfast, they found Hermione standing there pacing back and forth. As she caught notice of them she threw them both a particular evil glare.
"Hermione? What's wrong?" Harry asked as he saw Hermione shooting daggers at him.
"I have been up till the unholiest of hours!" she growled, and Harry now noticed the bags under her eyes.
"Doing what?" Harry asked.
"Listing to you two getting it on all night!" she yelled indignantly. "Every time I finally fell asleep you'd just start all over again. I'm surprised they didn't hear you all the way up at the Gryffindor tower! Haven't you guys ever heard about a SILENCING SPELL?!? Use it, damn you!"
Harry wanted to feel bad for Hermione, but he just couldn't stop himself from laughing and neither could Draco.
"Bonkers, the both of you," she spat at the two giggling lovebirds.
TBC