Blargh! I have to tell you guys... I haven't been able to have my Hatchy read my chapters before I'm posting them... Like, she didn't finish reading all of chapter 12, and she hasn't read this one either. This means that I went off on a TANGENT! WAH! But be grateful! This chapter ended up being more than twice the length of most of my other chapters.

Tralala. You know the drill.

Black-Rose1243 - Don't worry, Harry and Draco will work things out :) Yeah, you'll see in this chapter that Harry considers Ron and Hermione's reactions, especially because Ron did say, "Don't date an idiot... Like, Malfoy or something" (not sure the direct quote, I can't be bothered to look it up right now, haha). Things will be VERY awkward.

Immortal Tears of - Bah! beats the bunny away with a Chapter 13, which, conveniently, is bigger than the rest of the chapters! thus it HURTS MORE!

Russo - It's okay, I do that a lot myself (not reviewing straightaway). Thank you so much! I'm glad you like the story so far!

GentleWaterSoul - Haha, it makes mine ache, too. Too bad all I write is angst with love... or else some off-the-wall humor. Thanks for your review!

chisox727 - Ha! Here you go! :)

Lelimo - I have a feeling that even if they were together for the rest of their lives, they'd still bicker about EVERYTHING. It's cute sometimes, though :) And yeah, I say they're lovers, even if they're not completely convinced. I need to get my ass in gear so that I'm able to actually keep updating like I am!

fudgebaby - Thank you!! :)

YamakitoMatsukari - Ah, I agree. Nothing wrong with romance! I put the details where I see fit, and chapter 11 just didn't seem right with the smut. And yes, Harry definitely needed that smack, haha!

HedwigPig - lmao, EVERY chapter could have been longer. I hope this chapter will suffice. It's longer and... Well, just read it :P Hehe.

M'Lady - Harry just lets his frustration get the better of him. He has to learn to control that! They're definitely going to do a lot of fighting--their personalities just clash like that. But they definitely need to be more careful of what they say.

Lindzoid - Make them make up, you say? Done and done ;)

Carrie Anderson - LMAO I'm definitely making Harry look like such an asshole, aren't I? And I'll admit, Ron's my favorite, too (well, as far as the books and movies go. fiction-wise, I'll never get enough of Harry!Draco). Thanks for your review! :)

addamoose2004 - Aww :( Well, that's okay. I'll buy some pie next time I go grocery shopping :D

Fantasy 101 - I think the next few chapters are going to be rather amusing. Yeah, things could get ugly... But... Well, Ron's funny at least in the next chapter. He doesn't get to use a Muggle phone much, after all! (you'll see what I mean by next chapter!)

fanficfan4life - Agreed! That would have been hot.

Lady Slone of Snow Mt - I definitely agree with you to some extent that they should just start from the top, because they have too much of a history. But I also think that it's their history that attracted them to each other in the first place. If Draco had just been any regular person who walked into Harry's office, Harry wouldn't have been as compassionate knowing where Draco had been before all of this. But they definitely need to stop letting the past interfere so much. What's done is done!

Lani-David - Definitely! Harry should think before he speaks sometimes, but Draco definitely wasn't helping. Thank you for your review!! :)

Purveyor of Darkness:Tyrini - Ah, well thank you so much!! I'm a sucker for angst, too. I love anything that has a strong emotion backing it. Don't know why, I just do, haha. And as for a spin-off, I just REALLY loved writing from Draco's point of view. I actually prefer first-person to third-person, although I tend to write more third-person. I needed to do third-person for this story, seeing as it's my first HP fic, and I wasn't sure even how this was going to go, so I thought it would be safer to see how well I could keep the dialogue IC before making an entire story from one of their points of view. I have a one-shot I've been working on (and slacking on) that's from Harry's point of view. It's going okay, but I think I was better at writing Draco. So, I defiinitely want to write more from his perspective in the future. We'll see what happens :D

Charisma Black - Thank you! The quotes at the beginning of the stories are all song lyrics from random songs that I like, or at least random lyrics that I like. I was going to post them before, what the lyrics are from, but I haven't. Maybe I should though, like at the end of the story or something.

r.mai - Thank you!! They'll work things out :)

Story'd!


Chapter 13

I don't know if it was the weight of your words
Or the way you said my name

By the time Harry woke from his much-needed nap, it was already late into the afternoon. Before he lifted his head from the pillow, he grasped aimlessly at the end table beside his bed for his glasses. When he didn't find them, he sat up and squinted around the area, spotting them on the floor. Retrieving them, Harry placed his glasses on his face and stood up from the bed, stretching as he did so. He made his way out of his room, through the hallway, down the curved stairs, and spotted Draco sitting on the couch, vehemently writing on a piece of parchment. Harry had to smirk, seeing as Draco was using a Muggle pen to write.

"Nice quill," Harry teased. Draco didn't raise his eyes, but continued to write.

"Well, I have no idea where you keep anything in this place, so I just grabbed what I could find. Here." With that, he held the piece of paper out in front of him. Harry stepped forward and took it.

"What's this?" he asked, scanning the page.

"It's a list of my skills, so that you can find me a job," Draco stated. Harry nodded once, stopping his eyes at one of the items on the list.

"I don't think 'Being enviably sexy' constitutes as a skill," Harry said with a laugh.

"Sure it does. Sexy people just get more jobs," Draco commented. Harry rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch beside the blonde. He continued to read the list.

"This says you speak Spanish?" Harry asked.

"Si," Draco replied.

"You don't speak Spanish."

"How would you know?" Draco argued.

"When did you learn it?" Harry questioned. Draco sighed and took the list from Harry, scratching off "Fluent in Spanish" from the list. Harry laughed, and said, "And cross out anything else you lied about while you're at it." Draco mumbled something under his breath, and crossed out three more items before handing the list back to Harry.

"There."

"Thanks," said Harry. "You should have crossed off the bit about having 'excellent people skills,' too." When he received a sharp glare, Harry grinned and continued to read, only to be interrupted again.

"Anything else that I can't do?"

"Oh, shut up," Harry said casually. "I'm just being honest."

"You're not supposed to be honest. You're supposed to be hesitant and awkward."

"And you're supposed to be callous and cruel. Now that we agree we're both out of our minds, can I read this list?" Draco didn't reply, but crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back lazily against the couch.

"So," Harry continued, "You earned NEWTs in Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and . . . " Harry paused and squinted at the next item on the list, before grinning widely, " . . . Herbology?" Draco huffed angrily.

"So?" he retorted.

"Well, it was hard to tell. You scribbled it in there as if you didn't want me to read it." Harry continued to grin, trying very hard to suppress his laughter.

"There's nothing funny about a NEWT in Herbology," Draco said, now blushing profusely.

"You're right, there isn't. But there's something hilarious about Draco Malfoy getting a NEWT in Herbology," Harry said, before bursting with laughter. Draco looked absolutely livid.

"All right, if you're just going to laugh—"

"No, I'm sorry," Harry choked out between chuckles.

"Oh, and you seem very sorry."

"No, you're right. It's not funny." Harry said, straightening his face and clearing his throat. "So . . . " He then began to smirk again. "You earned a NEWT in Herbology."

"Here we go," Draco mumbled, waiting for Harry's laughs to die down. "I could almost understand if it had been Muggle studies, but really."

"Oh, I took Muggle Studies," Harry said, catching his breath.

"I'm sure that was hard, seeing as you were raised by Muggles," Draco said snidely.

"I only took it because Ron was. Why did you even take Herbology long enough to get a NEWT?"

"Bloody Merlin, Harry, I don't know! Because, obviously, it was an easy NEWT. Even Longbottom was great at Herbology, and that's saying something."

"Neville wasn't terrific academically, but he came through where it counted," Harry declared.

"I never said he wasn't a loyal comrade, but he's certainly no Granger. He's not even much of a Weasley, for that matter."

"Okay, that's enough," Harry said firmly. Draco snorted.

"Thusly, you can make fun of me for earning a NEWT in Herbology, but I can't point out the flaws of your friends?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry paused and shrugged.

"Point taken. All right, I won't laugh at your NEWT anymore. But really, it was funny."

"Potter," Draco snapped.

"Malfoy," Harry replied. Draco glowered at Harry before groaning angrily.

"You're in a right state for a hex, you know that?" Draco asked, then added, "Oh wait, that's right. I don't have a wand. And why don't I have a wand? Because you're keeping me here, under your watch. And when am I able to leave? When I have a job. Why don't I have a job? Right, because you're sitting here—"

But what Harry was exactly sitting here doing was never said, because Draco was quickly silenced by a passionate kiss. He eagerly parted his lips, allowing Harry's tongue to slide into his mouth. Draco leaned against Harry, pushing him back on the couch. Harry moaned softly as Draco's chest pressed against his own. Harry's back hit the seat of the couch with a whispering thud. Harry yanked his glasses off and tossed them onto the other couch. He snaked his hand up Draco's shirt, his fingertips barely touching the heated flesh. Draco groaned lustfully and thrust his groin against Harry's, causing him to gasp and clutch Draco's shoulder desperately.

"Draco," Harry murmured, turning his head and breaking their kiss. "I might be able to get you a job at the Ministry." After all, he still had work to do.

"Great," Draco said absently, lifting Harry's shirt from his torso.

"I'll have to talk to Mr. Weasley, though," Harry continued, although his voice seemed to be mostly caught in his throat.

"You do that," Draco said, removing his own shirt.

"I'm sure it—"

"Harry?" Draco asked exasperatedly.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, will you?" Draco stared at Harry with an eyebrow raised. Harry paused for a moment.

"Okay," he said, and then roughly pulled Draco back down. Their lips met again with a dangerous force, Harry's hands sliding from Draco's chest, to his stomach, to his pants, fumbling with the zipper in a delirious rush. Draco's pants were halfway down his backside, Harry unbuttoning his own pants, when the ringing of the telephone interrupted their fervor. Harry's head immediately turned to the direction of his telephone. Without hesitation, Draco cupped Harry's face with one of his hands and turned his gaze from the phone.

"No," was all Draco said. He leaned down to kiss Harry again, when another ring chimed through the room, and Harry's head turned again. Draco's lips landed sloppily against Harry's cheek.

"It might be important," Harry said. Draco sighed impatiently.

"You're going to ignore that damned Muggle contraption."

"But what if it's Tonks?" Harry asked, keeping his eyes on the ringing phone.

"It isn't. Trust me. Why would she call your telephone?"

"She doesn't, normally. But it could still be her." Harry then attempted to sit up, only to be knocked back down, a pair of lips seizing his own.

"You," Draco said in-between kisses, "are going—to ignore—the phone. —Do you—understand me?" At that point, it had stopped ringing anyway, but Harry considered his options. Should he find out who had called, or make love to Draco Malfoy?

"It really is a damned Muggle contraption," Harry said breathlessly, and went back to undoing his fly. Neither of them wasted any time in removing their remaining clothing. Draco crawled back on top of Harry. Harry wrapped his legs around the blonde's waist, and somewhere in the process of entwining their limbs, they found themselves falling off the couch and crashing gracelessly onto the floor.

"Fuck!" Draco shouted, lying on his back and rubbing one of his elbows. He turned to Harry with a face of something between shock and frustration. "Why didn't you get a bigger couch?!" Harry, who had landed beside him, started to laugh.

"I didn't buy it for shagging purposes, or else I would have considered my couch size further," Harry said. A sly grin spread onto his face, and Harry commented, "Well, we can continue on the floor if you like, though your knees are going to hurt a bit."

Draco sat up and raised his eyebrows, then snorted softly.

"I'll risk it," he said. "Besides, you started this." He rolled onto Harry and gazed seductively into his eyes. "I insist on finishing it."

As if they had never skipped a beat, Harry wound his legs around Draco once more. As Draco's lips grazed his lover's neck, he grasped Harry's manhood, stroking it gently. Harry clawed roughly at Draco's back and, with his legs, urged the blonde's hips forward. Draco entered him gradually, triggering a low groan from deep within his own throat. The ringing phone and the painful fall were forgotten as Draco thrust again and again, their moans growing louder and louder. As the pace in his hips quickened, so did the movement of his hand.

Draco lunged down to kiss Harry fleetingly on the lips, trailing a line of kisses down to his collarbone. His breath came out in short puffs against Harry's neck before his head came to rest in the spot where his lips had just been.

"Oh, fuck," Draco choked out, increasing the pace of his strokes and thrusts. They climaxed together, the sounds of their lovemaking reverberated off the walls of the room. Draco collapsed his body against Harry's, breathing heavily into the crook of his neck. Harry slid his hands up Draco's back, resting them on the back of his head, allowing his fingers to play tenderly with the blonde hair. The room was silent except for the gentle hum of their breathing.

"You know," Draco said thoughtfully after a moment.

"Hmm?" asked Harry.

"My knees don't hurt like you said they would. Your floor turned out to be better for shagging than your piece of rubbish couch." Harry started to laugh.

"True. In fact, if my couch were a student at Hogwarts, I'm sure it would never have been competent enough to earn a NEWT in, say, Herbology." Draco responded by growling angrily and biting Harry on the shoulder. Harry let out a yelp and sat up, a look of shock and confusion on his face. Draco rolled onto his back, resting his arms behind his head.

"You don't bite me!" Harry cried. Draco grinned.

"I've bitten you before, love. You didn't have a problem with it then." Harry narrowed his eyes and lay back down on his side, propping himself up on his elbow.

"That was a little different," he said.

"Not really. You were on your back then, too." Harry made a face, as Draco smirked in return.

"You're so charming," Harry said sarcastically. Draco shrugged indifferently, wrapping an arm around Harry and pulling him down. Harry sighed and snuggled against Draco's body. He traced light patterns with his fingertips onto Draco's stomach. In just a matter of days, they had gone from being sworn enemies, to making love on the living room floor. Harry stilled his fingers and lifted his head, turning to face Draco.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked softly.

"Playing a tremendous game of wizard's chess. Checkmate."

"No, I'm serious," Harry urged. Draco furrowed his brow and blinked.

"I don't know what you're asking. What are we physically doing . . .?"

"No, like . . . What are we?"

"You sound like one of those crazed Muggle theorists," Draco said.

"Forget it," Harry mumbled, biting his bottom lip. "You're right. I'm not making sense." Draco let out an exasperated sigh and closed his eyes.

"Are you asking what we're doing as far as a relationship goes?" he asked, although seemingly without much interest.

"No," Harry lied.

"Because I—" Draco stopped mid-sentence when the phone began to ring again. Harry lay still, waiting for Draco to finish his thought. Instead, Draco asked, "Aren't you going to answer it?"

"No," Harry said. "What were you saying?" Draco paused for a moment, listening to the ringing phone.

"I don't remember," he said, shaking his head quickly. Harry grimaced, wishing he had his wand on him so that he could blast that stupid telephone into oblivion. The two lay, allowing the phone to ring until the answering machine picked up. Once Harry heard the voice on the other line, he buried his face in Draco's chest, suddenly feeling very guilty for being naked beside him.

"Hi, Harry! It's Hermione. I just called a short bit ago, but I hadn't left a message and thought that maybe I should. Ron and I were just wondering how you're doing. Give us a call back or send an owl sometime. Don't be a stranger!"

Neither of them said anything for a while after the message ended. Finally, Draco said in an awkward voice, "You should call her back." Harry snorted.

"You're right. I'll start off with, 'Sorry I missed your call; I was busy being fucked by Draco Malfoy. So, how's the weather?'"

"Well, of course it's going to be strange as hell to explain this. Do you even plan on explaining it to her" Draco asked.

"I was trying to get you to explain it to me a few minutes ago, but that didn't work, so I don't know what I'm going to tell Hermione. It's not even her I'm worried about. Ron's going to kill me. Or you. Probably you," said Harry, growing more frustrated by the second.

"Why are you asking me about this anyway? I'm the one who went out on a limb and practically shoved my feelings down your throat, while you didn't know what you wanted. Now you're asking me to call the shots?"

"Don't even try to blame me for being unsure about all this—"

"I'm not blaming you for anything! Fucking hell, why are we arguing again?" asked Draco. Harry sighed and sat up.

"We're not arguing! Who said we were arguing? I'm so fucking sick of arguing!" Harry exclaimed, his voice rising in volume. Draco sat up as well and rolled his eyes.

"Would you stop for a second? What is this all about? Are you expecting me to decide if we're in a legitimate relationship?"

"I—" Harry began, and then paused. "Well, yeah. I am."

"Then considering that you were unsure about all of this, I think it's your decision. You know where I stand and I'm bloody not going to fight with you about it. Now, this discussion is over so go call Granger and stop worrying about everything, because you're going to drive me mad," Draco ordered.

"What am I supposed to say to her?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. Tell her the truth, I guess. Or something close to it."

"Okay," Harry said quietly. He paused, and then added, "Sorry for losing my head."

"Just shut up and call, will you?" Draco insisted. "I know you're sorry, you don't have to tell me." Harry grinned.

"So, am I forgiven and you're just choosing not to tell me?" he asked.

"GO CALL!"

"Thanks," Harry said. He gave Draco a kiss on the cheek before standing to redress. As he did, he ran a thousand scenarios through his head of what Hermione would say. But, really, as he had told Draco, he was far more worried about Ron. After all, he did the only thing Ron asked him not to do.

Harry sighed and walked over to the phone. As he dialed, he turned to Draco, who began getting dressed as well. Harry bit his lip as he placed the phone to his ear.

Why do I make things so hard on myself?


R/R! Ron!Hermy in the next chapter! Be prepared for stupid-yet-amusing!Ron. (OMFG I love Ron.)

Oh, and I realize that Harry didn't actually apologize for what he said. He IS sorry, and Draco knows that, but Draco realized that Harry was a bit miffed that he kept dicking around while Harry was trying to do his job. Either way, Harry's forgiven... clearly! ;)

To add another note, because I just can't stop talking... There could have been more details, I know (hell, there could have been some foreplay too, but they're new to this love thing so let 'em fuck when they want and how they want, I say!). But really, I don't even know what this site allows as far as smut goes, and I will be ANGRY if I'm booted off. So, the details will be basically as they were here. If, however, this isn't good enough... Well... check out some of the stories I have as favorites, haha. They might help you out :)