Title: The House of Horrors
Author: Babydracky
Translation Author: Lil Nezumi
Disclaimer: Harry Potter-verse and characters belong to J.K. Rowling & WB.
Author's Note: See "INTRODUCTION" for summary and author's notes.
Part II, Chapter III: House of Horrors - Exploring their surroundings!
Of course, admittedly, Malfoy has a very lovely mouth and he was so cute too once you remove him from his natural environment... In any case, he would have to keep his gorgeous little trap shut, because once he managed to open it, he only came across as being detestable and unbearable.
Harry had discovered that he had developed a certain penchant for Malfoy and the worst thing about it was that it did not bother him any more then that... What was certainly the one of the most annoying things to realize was that God. The one God, in all his infinite wisdom, had decided to assign to Malfoy the worst father that Harry had ever had the occasion to encounter, but also had to infuse such a beautiful ripe little fruit with a venom, particularly efficient and virulent... Oh, yes Malfoy was absolutely cut from the from that same forbidden fruit... A beautiful fruit in bloom that smelled lightly of fresh cut lime blossoms... The only problem was that Malfoy was not only the forbidden fruit, but he was equally the venomous snake, sent by the one God, to punish all sinners that dared to lay a hand on him... That didn't fix the situation with regards to Harry, but on the other hand, he wasn't so desperate to such a point as to begin developing some fixation on Malfoy and his gentle aroma of lime blossoms...
Uh, huh... It's not like he would be missing me... uh, yeah!
Harry was never really known for his rich conversational skills nor was he really known for sustaining them, but now this was really the first time that there was evidence that he had a distinct lack of vocabulary too.
Oh, yeah...Anyhow, I give him not more than three seconds before I begin to hear him come running and crying...
Three...
Nothing…
Two...
Still nothing…
One...
"POTTER! WAIT FOR ME!"
There, now I am reassured... In fact, I wasn't really worried about him; it's just that it would cost me my "good" standing with the gossipmongers!
Harry had stopped walking and waited for him with his arms crossed over his chest and with a huge grin on his face. There, Draco arrived at his location running, Harry told himself that when Malfoy wanted to he could run fast, see that as really very fast.
Just as he was about to say something, Malfoy grabbed his hand with an icy cold one and began dragging Harry along with him without knowing where they were headed. Harry knew very well that this situation was not very funny, but after running for several minutes throughout this darkened and inhospitable maze, he burst out laughing... This outburst, brought Malfoy back to reality and he abruptly stopped.
Harry didn't think that Malfoy would be stopping so abruptly, that he slammed into him hard, but not hard enough to make him lose his equilibrium. Whereas, Malfoy turned toward him like he had just heard Harry say something strange like "Harry phone home", Harry seeing this look continued to guffaw loudly.
Malfoy planted his right hand against Harry's mouth, leaving his left where it was, clasping Harry's. He looked at him with his eyes wide open like saucers.
"Have you lost you mind, Potter? Why don't you just call them over to join us, while you're at it," Malfoy ground out in a hushed tone.
Harry grinned under Malfoy's hand, producing a delicious shiver that went through the other boy.
Draco's discomfort grew. He just did not understand this anymore... Why was he so afraid of those creatures in one instant, but as soon as he was with Potter, he didn't give them another thought...
By the Gods! Don't tell me that I have been infected with a working version of the Super Hero Syndrome because if that's what it is then I'm just going to have to shoot myself!
Draco was freezing a few seconds ago, but now he was feeling rather hot... He could feel the warmth emanating from Harry's lips, under his hand, a warm breath sweeping across his fingertips... Let's not forget that speaking of fingers, the ones in his other hand were meshed with Harry's, though how that had happened he had no clue... The fingers were holding his were... Harry's palm somewhat roughened by long hours of Quidditch training was pressed against his. The palm was so rough and yet somehow comforting... A palm much, much larger that his own, a palm that seemed to be able to protect anything and anyone...
Oh, no. I do have the symptoms of the Super Hero Syndrome!
Then Draco felt himself turn red to his great embarrassment. While he was trying to painfully regain his composure, he was sincerely hoping that Harry wasn't able to see anything in the gloom (by the grace of the Heavens, he seemed to be myopically challenged, kinda like a mole...). Whereas Harry, whose emerald eyes shone within the gloom like a feline on the prowl, gently drew Malfoy towards him and decided to take up the task for which Malfoy was lamentably failing: the straightening of his hair, "properly".
Harry had really developed a huge weakness for Malfoy's hair... It was really bizarre that the gel used to style it, was not disagreeable on the point of contact... It must have been one for wizards, the kind that gave the impression that it would like placing a hand on a hardened shell.
Malfoy was once more lost in the sensations and he didn't know whether to hate Harry for doing this or whether to encourage him to continue.
Oh, no! If I begin purring, I am going to hang myself!
Whereas Harry let his fingers dance within Malfoy's hair, digging tiny little grooves between each strand, then he felt Malfoy tremble slightly. This motion was admittedly so slight and barely perceptible, but Harry couldn't fail to notice the least bit of reaction coming from Malfoy.
"Cold?" He asked with a soft breath. Malfoy had a hard time understanding him, seeing as how his hand was still covering someone's mouth. He removed it slowly giving Harry the opportunity to speak clearly.
"Cold, Malfoy?" Harry repeated in a soft, gentle voice.
"Nah... Nah..." muttered Malfoy, stammering over the syllables.
"But you're trembling..." Harry continued, tightening his grasp on Malfoy's hand. He started caressing the backs of the knuckles with his thumb, without even realizing that he was doing so.
Malfoy did not expect this reaction and began to tremble even more. He was looking at Harry, as though he had been transformed into something out of this world.
"...Not cold..." Malfoy stammered, immediately hating the fact that his response was less then it should have been and certainly hating his sudden inability to construct one complete and grammatically correct sentence.
Harry was well aware of Draco's growing uneasiness, but chose to ignore it and continued to pursue an answer.
"Still you're trembling and your fingers are icy cold..." Harry smiled, mischievously.
Once this sentence was out, Draco attempted to retrieve his hand from Harry's grasp, but he quickly gave up on that once he realized that "his" companion wasn't allowing it. He was looking at Harry his eyes practically begging him to let go.
"Do you want me to warm you up a bit?" Harry said in one of the most innocent of voices, but his eyes weren't expressing anything of the sort, actually they were expressing something quite to the contrary.
Draco panicked slightly when Harry made a motion, seeming to approach him. Draco automatically backed up a step, unconsciously telling himself that he need to keep a certain distance between himself and his enemy, for whom Draco now seems to have been changed into some kind of prey, see that prey as being grade A and top choice.
Therefore Draco decided to re-take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and verbally put Harry back in his place and if he needed to, then physically.
"It's certainly my ears that you are trying to heat up, Potter!" He responded, sneering. (Muggle old school expression not commonly used anymore. The symbol heating the ears or having them turn red, meant something was said that was either very embarrassing to the listener or intimacy had just been insinuated.)
You've done better then that, Draco, still that wasn't too bad... Seeing how Potter is now looking at you, it looks like he got the message...
Harry was looking at him, in fact quite surprised...
Oh, yeah! My little dragon is feeling threatened, showing his teeth... It's so, so charming...
Harry, without even having had the time to consciously be aware of his actions and of what he was really about to do, quickly leaned in towards Malfoy, with a very naughty little grin on his lips.
Malfoy was agitated and startled by Harry's quick movements.
"They're ice cold, too." Harry murmured, sucking gently on an earlobe after having delicately touched his lips on the slight fleshy lobe that he had been coveting for more then a few moments... He had jumped at the opportunity to trap it during this brief instant, this lovely little earlobe between his lips, sliding the tip of his tongue between his teeth he tickled the tiny little prey caught by his lips.
Harry backed away grinning lasciviously, seeing Draco's widen in astonishment at the audacity. He felt that the little dragon was about to explode shortly because apparently he was not going to get away with this...
"POTTER!" Draco squeaked, loudly. He was completely beside himself and red like a fully ripe tomato.
Harry immediately backed further away. He was, admittedly, proud of himself, but was not about to risk a "physical" confrontation with Draco... Although, thinking on it for a second, he thought that it didn't sound as unpleasant as all that...
Still, catching Malfoy's eyes, he said to himself that he might have pushed things a little too far... He noticed that Malfoy was still beside himself and still didn't seem to have regained the ability to breathe properly.
Malfoy took a step towards Harry, with a threatening air, his voice pure ice, dangerously remote and growling was breaching his lips and mouth.
"Potter...I'm going to..."
Harry didn't allow Malfoy the chance to finish his sentence, Malfoy's threat really was justified, but Harry quickly turned around abruptly with his guard up.
"Did you hear that?" Briefly he glanced back towards Malfoy.
Malfoy blinked and was somewhat suspicious of Harry's actions.
"I don't hear anything..." he answered, hatred lacing his voice, before Harry interrupted him again.
"Shush! Didn't you hear it? It seemed to come from the left passage..." Harry repeated, his voice tensing.
Draco extended his ears and still didn't hear anything, but the fact of seeing the "great" Harry Potter backing away, caused him to do the same. He certainly didn't wish to meet head on with another of those repugnant creatures. This was why he did not object when Harry spoke in a low voice, low in such a way that "nothing" would get passed them.
"Let's go," Harry ordered.
Draco followed him without a pause, accelerating his pace to bring him up to Harry's side, fearful that if one of those creatures were to catch them then he's make sure that it wasn't him they went for first. As for Potter, being Potter, he probably didn't notice this...
They walked side by side, quietly, for a long time, their pace was set and maintained in order to be absolutely one hundred percent sure that their charming hosts would be unable to catch up to them.
After passing through several long malodorous and gloomy looking corridors, Harry was still in the process of congratulating himself for his brilliant idea that had shut Malfoy up. He was proud that for once, he had succeeded in reacting on the spur of the moment. He didn't doubt that the thought of being once again caught by the horrible creatures would immediately calm Draco and make him forget for the time being that he had just been "bitten" gently on his earlobe by his known "enemy".
Harry's "plan", although perhaps wrapped around a white lie, had worked to perfection! Malfoy had thought him to be too much of a "Gryphondor" to even dare lie about any little thing, to use such an obviously phony excuse to get out of an "embarrassing" situation... Malfoy had believed his every word! Anyway, Malfoy was never one proven to have much courage... So only mention that his lovely little derriere was in danger and he runs along courageously without pause!
It was then that Harry became aware the direction that his thoughts had taken.
I'm currently thinking about Malfoy's rear... By all the Gods... I'm seriously becoming a pervert... Furthermore I have never before really paid attention to Malfoy's behind before, so...
His eyes followed the direction of his thoughts. Harry let his gaze drift down to the rounded backside of his "companion".
Wizard's robes are such an idiocy, I can't see anything, Harry thought in frustration. I wonder if he would remove them, if I pointed out that they were dirty and torn, which is completely the truth in this case...
A "naughty" little smile started to appear again, on his face, just as Malfoy came to a stop in front of an immense wooden door. He turned, questioningly, towards Harry. Harry didn't see much of choice here, as the only option they had was to turn around and retrace their steps, which really was out of the question.
They turned back towards the door and observed it attentively. It really was at odds with their environment, since it seemed to have been made of beech wood and it had been completely worked over expertly, with special attention in the finest detail. Long curls, representing Ivy leaves were intermingled with one another and so finely sculpted all around the door, framing it in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Draco let his fingers trace the intricate curls that the artist, Harry didn't doubt that this was the work of an artist, had carved. Malfoy was the kind of person who really loved beautiful things.
Harry managed to drag Draco's attention away by making him read the words written above the door. On a slab, that seemed to have been made of rose marble, enhanced by emerald green slivering, were the engraved words:
The Room of History.
TBC...