Harry pulled his cloak back onto his shoulders from where it had slipped as he sat down on the damp rock. The mid-October weather brought in a chilling wind, which in turn dragged with it frequent bouts of rain. As his hand rested on the rock to ease himself down, Harry was thankful of the moisture repellence charms that were cast over Hogwarts school robes. Unfortunately this did not prevent the cool of the night air chilling his skin. A mere moment after positioning himself a safe enough distance from the spraying water Harry had both the cigarette's and lighter pulled from inside his robes. With a hasty movement a cigarette was taken from the cardboard and placed between chapped lips. The silver lighter was flipped open, warming Harry's face as he lit up. Before he flicked it closed again the orange glow cast a flailing shadow across a blood-dried cut on Harry's hand. He frowned as he stuffed the lighter and packet into the pocket on the inside of his robes and, removing the cigarette from his mouth with his left hand, brought the right hand to his mouth, tongue lapping over the cut to clean it of the blood. The customary sound of feet, no longer crunching but padding against the wet rock, came towards Harry who was now taking a long drag of the cigarette (returned to its place between index and middle fingers of his right hand).
The blond gracefully lowered himself down beside the Gryffindor, a little closer than was strictly necessary. Draco rationalised that it was to share body heat, Draco also knew a fantastic amount about denial. His silver eyes swept meticulously over a seemingly contemplative Harry and he resolved to hold back comment in case Harry was mulling over something vastly important (although the Slytherin highly doubted that that was the case). Draco continued to survey the dark haired boy: green eyes glowing from the light of the embers every time the tobacco was inhaled, strands of hair falling over his forehead, intentionally or not, obscuring the lightning bolt scar and brushing the tips of his eyelashes. As Harry blinked and shook his head a little to move the hair from tickling his face, Draco saw the newly healing cut adorning the Gryffindor's usually unmarred hand.
"Fresh wound ?" He asked,
finally breaking the impenetrable silence. Harry let out a long
exhalation of smoke as he gave the Slytherin one brief nod, flicking
the cigarette into the lake
"Fresh wound." In a rather
uncharacteristic fashion Draco let the issue rest there, sensing
Harry clearly saw no reason of importance of discuss the matter.
As
Harry went to take a second cigarette from inside his black robes
Draco spoke up again
"You really are going to kill yourself
if you carry on smoking like that," Harry turned to stare
blankly at him, unused to any concern for his health from the blond
"I thought even you would be intelligent enough to see that."
He added with a smirk. Harry's mouth broke into the smallest of
smirks also as he saw Draco's attempt to engage in conversation, his
head cocked to one side
"Do you have any idea how much like
Snape you can actually be some times ?" Draco simply smirked
wider and raised a shaped, blond eyebrow at Harry
"I have
absolutely no idea as to the nature of your inane ramblings Mr
Potter." Harry snorted as he muttered something that sounded
decidedly similar to 'greasy git'. Draco's smirk converted itself to
a mischievous grin
"Now Potter," he stated, no longer
attempting to impersonate the Potions Master "that is no way to
speak about my head of house, especially considering the amount of
times the man saved your life ...albeit those weren't his best
decisions..." Harry smiled, turning to look over the lake
"besides," Draco added "it is a well known fact that
Professor Snape is in fact highly regarded as an extremely
sexy, seductive master of Potions." Harry's head turned slowly
back round to Draco, an expression somewhere between incredulity and
nausea on his face. The blond smiled, seeing his last comment had had
the desired effect on the Gryffindor.
"You don't
agree ?" Draco asked him with well faked sincerity. Harry
rapidly shook his head having been well silenced by the Slytherin's
comment. Draco raised his eyebrows, face turning from Harry to look
over the turbulent water as the dark haired boy continued to gawk at
him
"And there was me thinking that it had been your
deep-seated feelings for him that had you realise you were gay."
He looked at Harry grinning "am I to assume I was wrong ?"
Harry, who seemed to have regained the power of speech managed a few
attempts at a string of words before a full sentence emerged
"Yes
you assumed wrong !" He spluttered "Snape ? Sexy ?
Seductive ?" He asked with flailing hand gestures. Draco began
to laugh as he grabbed Harry's hands to prevent any injuries, the
skin was cold against his, leaving the blond ignoring the fact that
his whole body had instantly warmed in spite of that. He placed
Harry's hands gently back down on the Gryffindor's thighs and took
his own hands away. Harry stared down, lips barely parted, blinking
every so often until shaking himself out of his stupor when Draco
spoke up again
"Since it wasn't Snape would you care to
tell me what did cause you to realise ?" Harry rung his hands
together in a desperate attempt to quell the tingling feeling he was
currently experiencing.
"There were a few things that made me
realise..." He began eventually "Given my first real
experience with any girl it's not surprising," he paused "that
was with Cho by the way." He added needlessly. Draco snorted but
quickly tried for redemption when he saw the look on Harry's
face
"Everyone knew what went on with you and Chang ...well
near enough everything but I don't really need the juicy heterosexual
details." He screwed up his face with a look of disgust causing
a soft smile to flit across Harry's face
"Well anyway as I
was saying," he continued "that was ...a bloody waste of
space really. During sixth year I began to notice myself noticing
guys more if you know what I mean ?" Draco nodded having been
there before "I did try to ignore it for a while but it got
harder and harder..." His train of thought drifted off as he
noticed the Slytherin shaking with suppressed laughter
"What
are you..." He trailed off again when he realised what he'd said
"You dirty, perverted git stop laughing." He admonished
before going on with his story, smirking as he realised what he would
next say "I realised I definitely had to face it when I found
myself checking out your arse." Draco's head shot up, laughter
immediately ceased "That was really the last straw." Harry
finished, looking up at the cloud covered sky as if he hadn't noticed
Draco's reaction.
The blond continued to stare
open-mouthed at Harry, finally questioning him in a strangely soft
voice
"You were checking me out ?" Harry nodded, amused
by the mystified expression Draco was wearing "how come I never
noticed before ?" Harry shrugged
"Like I said it was
your arse I was looking at so one has to assume you weren't facing
the right way to notice ...and don't look so surprised, a narcissist
such as yourself should not be shocked Draco ." The
Slytherin was about to contest the last comment until realising that
Harry actually had him well figured out, then what Harry had first
said struck a nerve
"And what would be so wrong with looking
at the front of me as opposed to the back ?" He spat, although
without any hint of real malice as he stood up and swept a hand over
his body in demonstration. Harry clambered to his feet in order to
stand in front of Draco.
"There would be nothing wrong with
it Malfoy."
His eyes ran up the Slytherin's long legs,
glancing over his slender waist, highlighted by the exquisite
tailoring of his robes. Harry let his gaze wander up the muscles of
the pale neck, into the jaw length blond hair that framed those high
aristocratic cheek bones and brushed ever so slightly over obviously
pouting lips. Finally Harry's stare came to settle on those silver
eyes. He took a step forward, hand raising to the strands of blond
hair that were hanging over Draco's left eye. Softly, calloused
fingertips grazing lightly over Draco's forehead, Harry pushed the
strands from his face, tucking them behind his ear. He noticed the
blond shivering beneath the touch ever so slightly as he reiterated
his assurance
"Nothing wrong with it at all..."
For
a dragged out moment they stayed in that position, Draco's hands limp
by his side as Harry's fingers were gently caressing the lock of
hair. Draco shivered again, more visibly this time. Harry swallowed
past the lump in his throat to allow speech
"If you're cold
...maybe you should go back inside." The Slytherin continued to
stare at him
"Yeah " Draco moved backwards
causing Harry's hand to fall. He slowly made his way back over the
rocks until Harry shouted to him
"Wrap up warmer tomorrow
Draco." The blond stopped and turned round, bewildered smile
gracing his pale face as he nodded then retreated.
Harry let
out a long breath that he hadn't been aware of holding. His hands
fumbled around inside his robes, failing three times to find anything
as his head would refuse to stop bombarding him with most confusing
and conflicting thoughts. He muttered to himself as his actions
became more frantic
"I really need a bloody cigarette..."
